---
title: absurdity — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «absurdity» in the school dictionary: Absurdity is the quality of being so silly or unreasonable that it makes people laugh. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/absurdity/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/) / [school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/) / [A](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/) / absurdity

# absurdity

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Absurdity, people, someone, king, absurdities, workmen · **What happens:** be, make, laugh, say, do, giggle · **To what, where:** quality, people, silly thing, absurdity, many absurdities · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«absurdity» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 4 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [absurdity in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/absurdity.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Absurdity is the quality of being so silly or unreasonable that it makes people laugh.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:absurdity:m1:1
# text = Absurdity is the quality of being so silly or unreasonable that it makes people laugh.
1	Absurdity	absurdity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	quality	quality	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nmod	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	unreasonable	unreasonable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
14	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
15	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Absurdity | the quality |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | silly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** | present | Absurdity | people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **laugh** | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An absurdity is a silly thing that someone says or does.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:absurdity:m2:1
# text = An absurdity is a silly thing that someone says or does.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	absurdity	absurdity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obj	_	_
8	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	nsubj	_	_
9	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a absurdity | a silly thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | someone | a silly thing |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent that=Topic |
| 3 | **do** | present | someone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king laughed at the absurdity of the plan.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:absurdity:x1:1
# text = The king laughed at the absurdity of the plan.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	absurdity	absurdity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past | the king |  |  | the absurdity of the plan |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Labakan's absurdities made the workmen giggle.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:absurdity:x2:1
# text = Labakan's absurdities made the workmen giggle.
1	Labakan	Labakan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
3	absurdities	absurdity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	workmen	workman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	giggle	giggle	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | Labakan's absurdities |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **giggle** | present | the workmen |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She told so many absurdities that nobody believed her.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:absurdity:x3:1
# text = She told so many absurdities that nobody believed her.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	absurdities	absurdity	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	iobj	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	obj	_	_
7	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	nsubj	_	_
8	believed	believe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | She |  | many absurdities |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent absurdity=Recipient |
| 2 | **believe** | past | nobody | many absurdities |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent that=Theme she=Eventuality |

## Example 4 {#x4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The story is full of absurdity, and that is why it is funny.

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:absurdity:x4:1
# text = The story is full of absurdity, and that is why it is funny.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	absurdity	absurdity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	parataxis	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	advcl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the story |  |  |  |  | of absurdity; full *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | story |  |  |  |  | funny *property* | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [absurd](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/absurd/)
- next →: [absurdly](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/absurdly/)
- ↑ back to [A in school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/)