What's the difference between ridiculous and surreal?

Ridiculous


Definition:

  • (a.) Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior.
  • (a.) Involving or expressing ridicule.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Historically, what made SNL’s campaign coverage so necessary was its ability to highlight the subtle absurdities of the election and exaggerate the ridiculous.
  • (2) It is ridiculous,' says Li Rui, a former secretary of Mao Zedong.
  • (3) No doubt it was intended as a bold and graphic way of presenting the Iranian nuclear threat, but much of the initial response – on Twitter, at least – was ridicule.
  • (4) "It would be ridiculous to encourage shale gas when in reality its greenhouse gas footprint could be as bad as or worse than coal.
  • (5) He says he won't respond to the latest ridiculous rumor of Republican action.
  • (6) At the 2nd stage, as the self-esteem lowered and negative attitude of other schoolchildren arose, the neurotic disorders emerged alongside with prevalent depressive reactions and fear of getting bad marks and being an object of ridicule at school.
  • (7) Once I’d checked she was OK I said, ‘Stop crying now.’ ” So it’s about managing emotions: ‘I’m going to need you to get a grip.’” “If you’ve got interesting points to make about the devaluing of serious words like bullying and depression, why make them in a way that sounds like you’re ridiculing people who are suffering?” I ask.
  • (8) Walden said the comparison with Comet was “ridiculous”.
  • (9) Well, Machado put those skills on display on Sunday, and this is an excuse to bring you his ridiculous play against the Yankees.
  • (10) Alamgir was ridiculed on social media after he told the BBC that the building may have collapsed after opposition activists enforcing a general strike "pushed at the gate and columns of the building".
  • (11) "The ANC pretence that we don't have a social crisis in this country is quite ridiculous.
  • (12) So we started asking them ridiculous questions about being single," says Lucas, "and the sheer number of misunderstandings about each other's lives felt like comedic material."
  • (13) "Rio Ferdinand's decision-making, the chances he has taken, it is ridiculous.
  • (14) It's ridiculous, because there will soon be a massive public outcry about how there's nowhere for kids to go.
  • (15) Westminster wits had taken to ridiculing the rebel movement against Gordon Brown as a "peasants' revolt", a cohort without influence.
  • (16) To create a new bank, which we understand is an option, which could be called Glyn Mills, is ridiculously back to the future.
  • (17) JD, Oxford More than three months to get a replacement debit card is ridiculous, and we agree that you have been more than patient.
  • (18) The Kiev-appointed governor, Serhiy Taruta, has dismissed this poll as ridiculous, pointing out that most of the region's 2.4 million voters won't take part.
  • (19) Liberal Democrats and Conservatives today ridiculed a request by Labour to broadcasters to focus more on policy analysis.
  • (20) Edge: Cardinals Bench Shane Robinson made a name for himself in Game Four of the NLCS with a pinch-hit home run and actually finished the NLCS with an OPS of 1.278, which is completely ridiculous and tops any of his teammates by a country mile.

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.