ludicrouslu‧di‧crous /ˈluːdəkrəs/ adjective 
Word Origin
It is ludicrous to suggest that I was driving under the influence of alcohol. The court granted him the ludicrous sum of £100 in damages. That’s a ludicrous idea.► see thesaurus at stupid—ludicrously adverb: a ludicrously inadequate army—ludicrousness noun [uncountable]
Word OriginWORD ORIGINludicrous
ExamplesOrigin:
1600-1700 Latin ludicrus ‘playful’, from ludus ‘play’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- She wears short skirts and dyes her hair pink, which looks ludicrous on a woman her age.
- The telephone lines are only open during office hours, which is ludicrous in this day and age.
- They want two million dollars for the house? That's ludicrous!
- And as he talked, I thought how ludicrous life sometimes was.
- It is difficult to know whether this is more ludicrous or tragic.
- It was a ludicrous but terrifying sight.
- Since I mentioned this ludicrous example of time-wasting to Julia MacKenzie, she has phoned roughly twice a day.
- The Press interest in this affair seems likely to reach ludicrous heights with the Grand Prix tomorrow.
- This sort of thing was bad enough at eighteen, she thought; at my age it is ludicrous and humiliating.
- Yet it is equally ludicrous for a city to ask its taxpayers to subsidize a private good such as golf.
THESAURUSvery stupid► crazy
Collocations not at all sensible or reasonable – used when you are very surprised by someone’s behaviour or what they have said: · Ian’s got some crazy plan to drive across Africa.· She looked at me as if I was crazy!· You’re crazy to think of hitch-hiking on your own.
► ridiculous extremely stupid: · You look ridiculous in that hat.· Some people spend a ridiculous amount of money on cars.· It’s absolutely ridiculous to suggest that he would do something like that.
► absurd/ludicrous extremely stupid – used especially when an idea or situation seems strange or illogical: · How can a return ticket cost less than a single? It’s totally absurd!· It was a ludicrous idea.· Some of the objections to the theory are simply absurd.
► laughable so stupid that you cannot believe someone is telling the truth or being serious: · The accusations were almost laughable.· a laughable suggestion· It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious.
Longman Language Activatorvery stupid► crazy not at all sensible or reasonable, especially in an annoying or shocking way : · I said I enjoyed doing exams, and she looked at me as if I was crazy!· Ian's got some crazy plan to drive all the way across Africa.· The farmers can make more money by not planting crops - it's crazy, isn't it?· You're crazy to think of hitch-hiking on your own.
► ridiculous/absurd something that is ridiculous or absurd is so stupid that you can hardly believe that it has been done, said etc: · I've never heard anything so ridiculous! Of course I haven't been trying to avoid you!· an absurd suggestion· This is ridiculous. You've only known him three days, and you're going on holiday with him!· It's absurd to think Porter flew into a murderous rage just because he had an argument with his girlfriend.patently ridiculous/absurd (=used to emphasize that something is very ridiculous indeed): · This patently absurd argument is often used by anti-gay groups.
► ludicrous completely unreasonable or unsuitable: · The telephone lines are only open during office hours, which is ludicrous in this day and age.· She wears short skirts and dyes her hair pink, which looks ludicrous on a woman her age.
► laughable so stupid and unbelievable that it makes you want to laugh: · The government's attempt to privatize the prison service has been simply laughable.· It would be laughable if it wasn't so serious.
► idiotic very stupid and likely to involve unnecessary risks and dangers: · Wyatt was nearly killed as a result of that idiotic stunt.· If that wasn't idiotic enough, the company went on to sack fifty percent of its skilled workers, replacing them with untrained apprentices.
► hare-brained: hare-brained scheme/plan etc a plan that is very stupid and cannot possibly be successful: · Alice had to figure out how to pay the rent after Ralph spent the money on another of his hare-brained schemes.
► inane: inane remark/comment/conversation etc stupid and completely meaningless: · Penny began an inane conversation about the book she was reading to fill the silence.· Bad acting, weak script and inane dialogue -- this movie is truly awful.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► as
completely unreasonable, stupid, or wrong SYN ridiculous: · As a theory, it strikes me as ludicrous.· His engineers soon realized that this was almost as ludicrous.
► most· It was the photographer from the Telegraph who provided one of the most ludicrous moments.· The most ludicrous post-mortem appeared last Thursday, September 18, on the editorial page of an almost-daily afternoon paper.· That is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard.· But the most ludicrous proposal of all concerns reapportionment.· Of the many drawbacks the most ludicrous is that applications can be made only once a year at a certain time.
► so· If it weren't so ludicrous, it would be laughable!· This is so ludicrous it is laughable in modern times.· I understand that, because the proposals were so ludicrous, there was no rationale to justify them.· Why should Willi always make himself look so ludicrous so that people laughed at him?
It is ludicrous to suggest that I was driving under the influence of alcohol. The court granted him the ludicrous sum of £100 in damages. That’s a ludicrous idea.► see thesaurus at stupid—ludicrously adverb: a ludicrously inadequate army—ludicrousness noun [uncountable]