reductio ad absurdum

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun

The method of disproving a statement by assuming the statement is true and, with that assumption, arriving at a blatant contradiction.

/rɪˈdʌk.ti.əʊ æd əbˈsɜː.dəm/ /rɪˈdʌk.ti.oʊ æd əbˈsɝ.dəm/

reductio ad absurdum reductio ad absurdums

Unadapted borrowing from Latin reductiō ad absurdum.

apagoge proof by contradiction reduction to the absurd

reductio ad Hitlerum reductio ad Stalinum

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

Back to search All on R Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary