What's the difference between absurd and rational?

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.

Rational


Definition:

  • (n.) A rational being.
  • (a.) Relating to the reason; not physical; mental.
  • (a.) Having reason, or the faculty of reasoning; endowed with reason or understanding; reasoning.
  • (a.) Agreeable to reason; not absurd, preposterous, extravagant, foolish, fanciful, or the like; wise; judicious; as, rational conduct; a rational man.
  • (a.) Expressing the type, structure, relations, and reactions of a compound; graphic; -- said of formulae. See under Formula.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Our data suggest that a rational use of surveillance cultures and serological tests may aid in an earlier diagnosis of FI in BMT patients.
  • (2) Consensual but rationally weak criteria devised to extract inferences of causality from such results confirm the generic inadequacy of epidemiology in this area, and are unable to provide definitive scientific support to the perceived mandate for public health action.
  • (3) We are the generation who saw the war,, who ate bread received with ration cards.
  • (4) The yeasts amounts used did not protect the test animals from the kidney infiltration with lipids and cholesterol; 12 g of yeasts per 100 g of the ration promoted elevation of sialic acid content in the blood plasma.
  • (5) Spontaneous reports of suspected adverse reactions may be the only way of revealing very rare events but they present great difficulties of rational interpretation.
  • (6) The rational surgical methods of treatment in 85 patients with suppurative hepatic echinococcosis penetrating into the abdomen cavity are presented.
  • (7) Knowledge of these lesions could form the basis for establishing a useful and rational therapy for such cases.
  • (8) It seams rational to proceed to an earlier total correction in these cases when well defined criteria are fullfilled, as the mortality figures of the palliative and corrective procedures have a tendency to reach each other: (3,2 versus 5,7%).
  • (9) --The influence of the digestibility of the energy in the ration on the energetic retention effect of BFC is small.
  • (10) The length of delay is determined by unconscious, non-rational processes, and other factors beyond her control.
  • (11) But it can be a more rational and better developed approach to long-term care based on the experience and knowledge we have gained in the past 50 years.
  • (12) The authors further show how test results can be used rationally by clinicians by so-called threshold analysis.
  • (13) The aetiology remains at present uncertain and therefore rational therapeutic strategies are difficult to plan.
  • (14) The origin of these substances is unknown, but these findings provide a rational basis for trials of benzodiazepine-receptor antagonists in the management of this disorder.
  • (15) We reviewed our experience with 245 thyroidectomies to define the spectrum of hypocalcemia, elucidate the mechanisms of hypocalcemia, and formulate a rational basis for its management.
  • (16) The data obtained can be useful when choosing a rational method for the therapy of gastric scretory disorders.
  • (17) Willie Spies, its legal representative, said: "Rationality has to return to the debate.
  • (18) A 35-kg Duroc pig died 3 days after eating a ration containing aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, and G2.
  • (19) In a Europe (including Britain) where austerity has become the economic dogma of the elite in spite of massive evidence that it is choking growth and worsening the very sickness it claims to heal, there are plenty of rational, sensible arguments for taking to the streets.
  • (20) The resolution of the cellular events which underlie the development of pancreatitis in combination with the introduction of new therapeutic agents may enable a rational and safe protocol to be developed for the support of patients with pancreatitis.