What's the difference between absurd and surreal?

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.

Surreal


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Future Brown have connections in the fashion industry, last year soundtracking a surreal film for the brand Telfar.
  • (2) But now the document turns crazily surreal, like the pointless war itself.
  • (3) According to Deborah Mattinson, his pollster, Brown " loved slogans and believed them to be imbued with a mystical power capable of persuading the most intransigent voter", and therefore went a bundle on them – not least " A future fair for all ", the surreal dud with which Labour went to the country in 2010, following 2005's equally idiotic " forward not back ".
  • (4) The surreal air of calm surrounding Spain's bond market shows no signs of dissipating.
  • (5) But, such is the intensity and surreal nature of this situation, we are all experiencing an emotional journey of self-discovery that will change us – hopefully for the better – for ever.
  • (6) "It started out as surreal, then people joined in and it sort of faded a bit, but it seemed pretty heartfelt from Rodman's side," Simon Cockerell, a tour guide who attended the game, told Reuters.
  • (7) There is the very real, or perhaps surreal, prospect, of postal workers simultaneously downing tools (parking their trolleys) and subscribing a few hundred quid for Royal Mail shares.
  • (8) The show stars Berry as a jobbing actor with vaunting ambition who gets into surreal scrapes, with a supporting cast including Doon Mackichan as his agent and Robert Bathurst as his housemate.
  • (9) Platt: "But when you score a goal like that you just go outside yourself for a bit, everything is surreal.
  • (10) Others are said to be clinging on to the idea that Ukip remains a convenient means of taking votes from the Tories (witness the surreally complacent words of the Labour frontbencher Angela Eagle: “I’m not as worried as some might be about Ukip’s appeal to Labour voters.
  • (11) Most people were concerned about how many people had been killed but luckily enough there was no game on at the time and it was the middle of the afternoon and it was a surreal experience.
  • (12) Was it surreal seeing your brother, Boris Johnson , take much of the credit for organising the whole thing?
  • (13) Before the crash, the proposed solutions to Bradford’s problems sometimes entered the realms of the surreal.
  • (14) In recent weeks, during which I kept waiting for the phrase “THE TRIAL OF ROLF HARRIS” to stop sounding completely surreal (it didn’t), I have pondered them a lot.
  • (15) A man with a machine gun chatting to a protester about midgies might seem delightfully British, but it also emphasises the surrealness of Trident and how we resort to small talk because its destructive potential is so unfathomably big.
  • (16) The police had blocked the roads – they also told us they didn’t know much more than us, and it was all a bit surreal.
  • (17) The DNC, the Sanders campaign and the Clinton campaign have all been damaged by one of the most surreal political scandals in recent history.
  • (18) Surreal character comedy doesn’t do it justice, really.
  • (19) There's something oddly surreal about some of these images.
  • (20) So, again, we weren't kidding when we said this whole thing was going to be surreal for a variety of reasons, not all of them particularly fun or amusing.