preposterous

  • 1Preposterous — Pre*pos ter*ous, a. [L. praeposterus; prae before + posterus coming after, latter. See {Posterior}.] [1913 Webster] 1. Having that first which ought to be last; inverted in order. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] The method I take may be censured as… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2preposterous — index excessive, exorbitant, impossible, incredible, inept (inappropriate), inordinate, irrational …

    Law dictionary

  • 3preposterous — 1540s, from L. praeposterus absurd, contrary to nature, lit. before behind (Cf. topsy turvy, cart before the horse), from prae before + posterus subsequent …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 4preposterous — absurd, *foolish, silly Analogous words: irrational, unreasonable: bizarre, grotesque, *fantastic …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 5preposterous — [adj] ridiculous, bizarre absurd, asinine, crazy, excessive, exorbitant, extravagant, extreme, fantastic, far out*, foolish, harebrained*, impossible, incredible, insane, irrational, laughable, ludicrous, monstrous, nonsensical, out of the… …

    New thesaurus

  • 6preposterous — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ utterly absurd or ridiculous. DERIVATIVES preposterously adverb preposterousness noun. ORIGIN Latin praeposterus reversed, absurd …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7preposterous — [prē päs′tər əs, pripäs′tər əs] adj. [L praeposterus < prae , before (see PRE ) + posterus, following: see POSTERIOR] 1. Now Rare with the first last and the last first; inverted 2. so contrary to nature, reason, or common sense as to be… …

    English World dictionary

  • 8preposterous — adj. preposterous to + inf. (it s preposterous to speak of such things) * * * [prɪ pɒst(ə)rəs] preposterous to + inf. (it s preposterous to speak of such things) …

    Combinatory dictionary

  • 9preposterous — [16] Preposterous originated as a Latin oxymoron, praeposterus. This was 393 prevaricate coined from prae ‘before’ and posterus ‘coming after, next’, a derivative of post ‘after’. It denoted ‘the wrong way round, out of order’ (and indeed that… …

    The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • 10preposterous — [[t]prɪpɒ̱st(ə)rəs[/t]] ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you describe something as preposterous, you mean that it is extremely unreasonable and foolish. The whole idea was preposterous. ...their preposterous claim that they had unearthed a plot. Syn:… …

    English dictionary

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