Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Deserving or inspiring ridicule; absurd, preposterous, or silly. synonym: foolish.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Worthy of ridicule or contemptuous laughter; exciting derision; amusingly absurd; preposterous.
  • Expressive of ridicule; derisive; mocking.
  • Abominable; outrageous; shocking.
  • Synonyms Funny, Laughable, etc. (see ludicrous), absurd, preposterous, farcical.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration.
  • adjective rare Involving or expressing ridicule.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Deserving of ridicule; foolish; absurd.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective inspiring scornful pity
  • adjective incongruous;inviting ridicule
  • adjective broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin rīdiculus, laughable, from rīdēre, to laugh.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ridiculus ("laughable, ridiculous"); see ridicule.

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Examples

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  • Of the human form especially, it is so great it must never be made ridiculous. Whitman, Preface 1855

    December 9, 2006