killingly absurd
- adjective
- Informal
:
absurdamente ridículo
- The plot of the play was killingly absurd, drawing laughter from everyone in the audience.
Examples
-
The premise of the movie was killingly absurd!
-
We found ourselves in a killingly absurd argument over who left the spoon on the table.
-
Her explanation was so killingly absurd that even the teacher had to smile.
-
His explanation was killingly absurd and made no sense.
-
The plot of the play was killingly absurd, drawing laughter from everyone in the audience.
-
Her explanation was so killingly absurd that even the teacher had to smile.
-
We found ourselves in a killingly absurd argument over who left the spoon on the table.
Synonyms
∞
1.4
Very strange or unusual in a way that surprises people
∞
1.6
Very silly or unreasonable in a way that makes people laugh
288
4.4
So silly or unreasonable that it makes no sense
264
1.5
Causing people to laugh loudly
184
4.1
Very foolish and risky because of bad judgment
129
3.5
Silly in a funny, slightly foolish way
100
6.0
Very silly and unreasonable so it makes people laugh
98
4.2
Too high to be fair or reasonable
72
7.3
Very silly and unreasonable so it seems laughable
60
4.1
So silly or not reasonable that people do not take it seriously
7
8.5
A situation that is very silly and unlikely, like a comic play
Very funny and silly in a way that makes people laugh hard
So ridiculous that it seems unreal or made up
So silly that people laugh at it
Very silly and not likely to be true
Antonyms
How Absurd
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines an intensifying adverb ('killingly' = in a way that provokes intense laughter) with the adjective 'absurd' (ridiculous), so the overall meaning 'extremely ridiculous' is directly derivable from the constituents. This adverb + adjective compositional pattern is a common and predictable construction, making the expression transparent to learners who know both words.
Etymology
Killingly absurd may come from an old image where killingly means something is so strong it 'kills' in a joking way, like a story or joke that makes people laugh a lot, and absurd shows the strange, silly side of it. That's why killingly absurd means 'extremely ridiculous'.