PREPOSTEROUS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Preposterous

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/prɪpˈɑstərəs/ /prɪpˈɑstrəs/ Listen

adjective

Preposterous adj.

Having that first which ought to be last; inverted in order. (Obs.) "The method I take may be censured as preposterous, because I thus treat last of the antediluvian earth, which was first in the order of nature."

Contrary to nature or reason; not adapted to the end; utterly and glaringly foolish; unreasonably absurd; perverted. "Most preposterous conclusions." "Preposterous ass, that never read so far!"

Synonyms: Absurd; perverted; wrong; irrational; foolish; monstrous. See Absurd.

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Etymology of 'Preposterous'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Preposterous" Quotes from Famous Books

... he did receive, being denied the drink by Dr. Gunning, unless he would take it on his knees; and after that by another the bread was brought him, and he did take it sitting, which is thought very preposterous. Home ...

— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

... could not be angry with her. It is only those preposterous notions she has got from somebody ...

— The Wide, Wide World • Susan Warner

... the tail of a thunderbolt, to observe two dusty foot travellers in the old pilgrim guise, with cockle shell and staff, their mystic rolls of parchment in their hands and their intolerable burdens on their backs. The preposterous obstinacy of these honest people in persisting to groan and stumble along the difficult pathway rather than take advantage of modern improvements, excited great mirth among our wiser brotherhood. We greeted the two pilgrims with many pleasant gibes ...

— Mosses from an Old Manse and Other Stories • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... suffered horribly from fever, and doubtless had been delirious again and again, but that chart was the work of no madman; half-an-hour's conversation with him satisfied me that he knew perfectly well what he was talking about, and, after all said and done, there is nothing preposterous in what he told me. We have had proofs enough of there being rich gold-loving nations in North, South, and Central America who built great temples—the Mexicans, the Peruvians, and the nations who have left the huge ruins ...

— The Peril Finders • George Manville Fenn

... anticipation. "And then, I suppose, he will begin to jabber French, and I shall wish to goodness I hadn't. I expect he will want to marry me, poor thing! And I shall have to explain—in French, ugh!—that as he is only a foreigner I couldn't possibly, under any circumstances, entertain such a preposterous notion for a single instant. No, I am afraid that would sound rather rude. How else could ...

— The Rocks of Valpre • Ethel May Dell

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