saugrenuadj.
/səʊɡrəˈn(j)uː/ Absurd, preposterous, ridiculous.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > absurdity, incongruity > [adjective]
impertinenta1425
royeta1522
absurd1531
preposterous1533
ridiculous1533
deaf?1541
monstrous?1549
fabulous1561
fanatical1598
fantastical1600
laughable1600
fantasticc1616
nonsense1621
arsy-versy1628
absonous1642
nonsensical1645
ridicule?1669
fancical1671
grotesque1747
rich1836
saugrenu1876
laughsome1884
cockeyed1894
hilarious1925
Rube Goldberg1928
whimsy-whamsy1931
Rube Goldbergian1933
cockamamie1941
fantasticated1960
fanciful-
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > derision, ridicule, or mockery > fact or condition of being mocked or ridiculed > [adjective] > ridiculous
gamelyOE
jape-worthyc1374
foolisha1500
ridiculous1533
ludibrious1570
laughable1600
mockablea1616
laughworthy1616
ludicral1656
derisible1657
absurd1716
grotesque1747
tomfool1762
irrisible1767
ludicrous1782
deridable1804
saugrenu1876
screwy1887
derisive1896
josh1908
nutty1915
derisory1923
dingbat1935
bonkers1961
joky1964
1876 W. James Let. 5 July in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. W. James (1935) I. 371 The saugrenu, comic Shakespeare scenes.
1889 E. Dowson Let. 18 Oct. (1967) 110 I have many adventures to tell you of—some assez saugrenues.
1908 ‘Odysseus’ Turkey in Europe (ed. 2) xiii. 440 The Great Powers of Europe are very like ordinary prejudiced individuals, not to say the lower animals. What they shy at one day, what they denounce with diminishing invective as impossible, revolutionary sangrenu, or crude, they accept a few years later as a matter of course.
1933 Notes & Queries CLXV. 378/2 If we take ‘chevalier’ as addressed by Christ to the poet, do we not get merely a retort—frigid, and, by reason of the historical association a little saugrenu?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1982; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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adj.1876