What's the difference between absurd and meaningless?

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.

Meaningless


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Even if it were not the case that police use a variety of tricks to keep recorded crime figures low, this data would still represent an almost meaningless measure of the extent of crime in society, for the simple reason that a huge proportion of crimes (of almost all sorts) have always gone unreported.
  • (2) Its experiments are so hopelessly flawed that the results are meaningless."
  • (3) "The hollow words of praise from the home secretary are meaningless today.
  • (4) The concept of "polypharmacy", a pejorative and meaningless term, nevertheless gave rise to useful surveys on combined drug use, to methods of monitoring and controlling multiple drug use, and to a small number of studies which imply that a few psychoactive drug-drug combinations are rational.
  • (5) He shrugs in bemusement at what is, to him, a meaningless compliment.
  • (6) Here the meaninglessness of material not only favoured its omission but also often indicated important psychopathology.
  • (7) Good mental health brings with it a whole lot of goodies in Santa’s stocking, because after all, physical fitness and wealth are meaningless without it.
  • (8) We should strip our own national anthem back, and replace the lyrics with our own best-known meaningless word – “oi!” Unless of course Big Liz turns up, and then we can stick in those other words – but she’s not going to, is she?” Netherlands – Tinchy Stryder Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tinchy Stryder has had two UK No1 singles, Number 1 and Never Leave You.
  • (9) Used appropriately, this approach should result in better studies of laboratory tests and fewer meaningless negative studies.
  • (10) On the other hand, the debate for or against abortion is meaningless to the extent that most women seeking abortions are to some degree "against" abortion.
  • (11) Opinion was divided: was it a real day, or a meaningless exercise in flag-waving, with foreign troops still deployed in their homeland?
  • (12) Former Labour science minister Lord Sainsbury said any assurances would be "frankly meaningless" given Pfizer's history of asset-stripping.Allan Black, of the GMB union which represents workers at AstraZenea's Macclesfield factory, said of Pfizer's latest pledges: "Similar undertakings were given by US multinationals before which have proved to be worthless."
  • (13) Our observations indicated that the coronary reserve capacity was very important for ventricular pacing, and suggested that an undue increment of the pacing rate not only might be meaningless but also might induce ischemic angina.
  • (14) No significant difference in response and survival was found between AM and CM groups (complete remission rates were 35% vs 42%, and 10 year survival rates were 31% vs 19%, respectively), but the prevalence of stages III-IV in patients treated with AM makes these results meaningless.
  • (15) Some are also concerned that British citizenship can be stripped from individuals whose other nationality is meaningless to them.
  • (16) – to create a message so simple it’s virtually meaningless.
  • (17) Each sentence seems more absurd than the last until you are finally and irredeemably overwhelmed by its relentless meaningful meaninglessness.
  • (18) But as neighbouring Libya descended into chaos and Islamic State began operating there, those restrictions became virtually meaningless.
  • (19) The answer, I think, is: bankers, bailed out; the royal family, whose income has risen in this recession thanks to the intervention of the chancellor; and those who should bridge the tax gap, estimated at £32bn in 2010-11 by HMRC, but don't, and are only punished with a froth of meaningless rhetoric.
  • (20) Or if there are, they are meaningless and entirely ineffective; they might, in fact, just as well not be lying about at all until the prospector - the journalist - puts them into relation with other facts: presents them in other words.