What's the difference between absurd and impossible?

Absurd


Definition:

  • (a.) Contrary to reason or propriety; obviously and fiatly opposed to manifest truth; inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense; logically contradictory; nonsensical; ridiculous; as, an absurd person, an absurd opinion; an absurd dream.
  • (n.) An absurdity.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But Steven Brounstein, a lawyer for one of the officers, said: 'For the DA to be equating this case to a drive-by shooting is absurd.
  • (2) Historically, what made SNL’s campaign coverage so necessary was its ability to highlight the subtle absurdities of the election and exaggerate the ridiculous.
  • (3) In any halfway-awake western nation, and, to be frank, in many reaches of British national life, this would be considered an amateurish absurdity, a guarantee of eventual failure.
  • (4) But the same court also just refused to hear an appeal of a Minnesota woman who's been ordered to pay more than $220,000 for downloading two-dozen songs – a testament to Congress' gift to Hollywood and its allies in the form of absurdly stiff penalties for minor infringement.
  • (5) I think the heart of good comedy really lives in truth and reacting to the absurdities, hypocrisies, abuses of power in the world.” Late night television is a no longer a glass of warm milk before bed, it’s a lunch buffet And as TV viewership declines and internet virality becomes as important as real-time eyeballs, cable networks might find that topical comedy is a smart, cost-effective way to grab cross-platform attention.
  • (6) It might seem absurd, but she also fretted about the horrendous poll tax bills received by people she knew, people she knew couldn't pay.
  • (7) He would have seen the absurdity in a chancellor admitting that his sums are so badly out that Britain will borrow more than double this year than the £37bn he originally promised – and claiming that as a triumph.
  • (8) The idea that opposition to the renewal of Trident is an extreme policy confined to the British left is absurd.
  • (9) SC, Manchester Spark Energy, one of Britain's smaller electricity suppliers, failed to notice that your bill was absurd.
  • (10) British officials said it was absurd that at one point Merkel seemed to want to remove most references to the eurozone crisis from the communique.
  • (11) Harry Kane, reminding everyone how absurd it was to think his confidence might be broken, may just have to accept this will not be a night that is remembered for his goal.
  • (12) Karl Habsburg-Lothringen supported his cousin's action: "The Habsburg law is absurd, there's nothing else to be said about it.
  • (13) In fact, the body of evidence about how much it matters is mushrooming, so that it seems almost absurd to anyone who knows anything about children's development that we still think that a baby's physical health at the birth is all that matters.
  • (14) Iain Duncan Smith and Chris Grayling breached all those, absurdly calling objectors 'job snobs'.
  • (15) Last month, along with Slovenia, Croatia and non-EU members Serbia and Macedonia, Austria – which has rejected Brussels’ criticism of its policy as “absurd” – imposed strict new restrictions, including a daily cap on the number of asylum seekers and migrants they would allow to enter their territory.
  • (16) Absurdly, the shops lack local staples – sugar, milk, flour – but are well stocked with subsidised imports such as single-malt whisky and Italian panettone.
  • (17) The idea that human breastmilk may not be good enough for human babies is clearly absurd.
  • (18) The woman snaps out of bed and opens her eyes, absurdly conscious and alive, wonderfully lucid.
  • (19) We are talking here about the absurd.” Ah, the absurd.
  • (20) Each sentence seems more absurd than the last until you are finally and irredeemably overwhelmed by its relentless meaningful meaninglessness.

Impossible


Definition:

  • (a.) Not possible; incapable of being done, of existing, etc.; unattainable in the nature of things, or by means at command; insuperably difficult under the circumstances; absurd or impracticable; not feasible.
  • (n.) An impossibility.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The size of Florida makes the kind of face-to-face politics of the earlier contests impossible, requiring instead huge ad spending.
  • (2) It was considered worthwhile to report this case due to the problems which arose concerning the choice of a thoracic rather than abdominal route owing to the impossibility of associating cardiomyotomy with anti-reflux plastica surgery because of the reduced dimensions of the stomach.
  • (3) During periods of wet steam it was impossible to maintain consistent sterility of the mouse pellets even using a cycle of 126 degrees C for 60 minutes.
  • (4) It is stated, that it is impossible to strive to effectively control the smoking habit neither by way of the consulting hours for smokers nor by means of the 5-days-plans.
  • (5) It’s impossible to understand why they don’t hold a PRB every single day.
  • (6) The contra-indications for them are: 1. a better visual acuity with spectacles than with contact lenses, 2. advanced cases (4th degree of Amsler) whose fitting is impossible, 3. unilateral keratoconus, 4. associated diseases such as trachomatous pannus, allergic kerato-conjunctivitis.
  • (7) Not long ago the comeback would have been impossible to imagine.
  • (8) It is often difficult if not impossible to include a pediatric patient in the planning of burn reconstruction.
  • (9) But leading British doctors Sarah Creighton , consultant gynaecologist at the private Portland Hospital, Susan Bewley , consultant obstetrician at St Thomas's and Lih-Mei Liao , clinical psychologist in women's health at University College Hospital then wrote to the journal countering that his clitoral restoration claims were "anatomically impossible".
  • (10) "I have tried to borrow the money, but it was simply impossible."
  • (11) It appears impossible to define a "positive" tilt test that would adequately identify patients with clinically significant dehydration or blood loss; this is due to the large variance in patients' orthostatic measurements both in a healthy and in an ill state and the lack of a significant correlation of orthostatic measurements to a level of dehydration.
  • (12) The grand patriarch, battling dissent and delusion, coming in for another shot, a new king on the throne, an impossible future to face down.
  • (13) Contrary to the claims of some commentators, such as Steve Vladeck , it is impossible to argue reasonably that the memo imposed a requirement of "infeasibility of capture" on Obama's assassination power.
  • (14) Clearly, it is impossible to combine the diverse information briefly outlined in this review to provide a coherent model of the regulation of globin gene expression during development.
  • (15) This report emphasizes the value of intensive investigation before surgery, since it may be impossible to identify the site of bleeding at laparotomy.
  • (16) It is as yet impossible to judge how far routine magnetic resonance imaging will supplant or complement CT in making the initial clinical diagnosis.
  • (17) She said it was impossible to attribute the increase in Indigenous women’s incarceration rates to one specific factor, but law and order policies of federal and state governments should be examined.
  • (18) It was impossible to distinguish the type of drug used for inhibition of EIA if it caused bronchodilatation at rest.
  • (19) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Columnist Jonathan Freedland and economics editor Larry Elliott discuss the late-night deal that the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has agreed to When it comes to the now-abandoned Thessaloniki Programme, the radical manifesto on which Alexis Tsipras came to power, there is always talk of implementing it “from below”: that is, demanding so many workers’ rights inside the industries designated for privatisation that it becomes impossible; or implementing the minimum wage through wildcat strikes.
  • (20) It was impossible to trace the axons originating in the NLT, since the cyto- and axoplasm could not be stained specifically.