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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

re·duc·ti·o ad ab·sur·dum

Audio Help [ri-duhk-tee-oh ad ab-sur-duh

m, -zur-, -shee-oh] Pronunciation Key

–noun Logic.

a reduction to an absurdity; the refutation of a proposition by demonstrating the inevitably absurd conclusion to which it would logically lead.

[Origin: 1735–45; < L reductiō ad absurdum

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Reductio ad absurdum

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

re·duc·ti·o ad ab·sur·dum Audio Help (rĭ-dŭk'tē-ō ād əb-sûr'dəm, -zûr'-, -shē-ō) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. re·duc·ti·o·nes ad absurdum (-ō'nēz, -nās)
Disproof of a proposition by showing that it leads to absurd or untenable conclusions.

[Medieval Latin reductiō ad absurdum : Latin reductiō, a bringing back, reduction + Latin ad, to + Latin absurdum, absurdity, from neuter of absurdus, absurd.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
reductio ad absurdum

1741, from L., lit. "reduction to the absurd."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

reductio ad absurdum
noun
(reduction to the absurd) a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proof of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction