Fwd: "ad absurdum, adv. and adj." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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Subject: "ad absurdum, adv. and adj." - Word of the Day from the OED
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Your word for today is: ad absurdum, adv. and adj.

ad absurdum, adv. and adj.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ad əbˈsəːdəm/, /ad abˈsəːdəm/,  U.S. /æd əbˈsərdəm/
Forms:  16– ad absurdum,   19– ad absurdem.
Etymology: <  classical Latin ad to (see ad- prefix) + absurdum, use
as noun of neuter of absurdus absurd adj., in various post-classical
Latin renderings of ancient Greek ἡ εἰς ἄτοπον ἀπαγωγή reduction to
the absurd (Euclid). Compare later reductio ad absurdum n.
Post-classical Latin ad absurdum is apparently attested earliest in
the following longer phrase in an English context:
1629  L. Andrewes XCVI Serm. 630 Then, to prove it, He proceeds,
abducendo ad absurdum.
With deduction ad absurdum (see quot. 1656 at sense A.) compare
post-classical Latin deductio ad absurdum:
1673  M. Poole Seasonable Apol. for Relig. 48, I am very apt to
believe, that one principal reason why God suffers such abominable
wickednesses‥to break forth is, that it might be a divine deductio ad
absurdum, that by the dismal effects of irreligion, the worst of men
might be forc't to see the excellency and necessity of Religion.
1715  E. Halley in Philos. Trans. 1714–16 (Royal Soc.) 29 343 The
Method of Exhaustions, by a Deductio ad Absurdum.
With reduction ad absurdum (see quotations 1659 at sense A.,  1985 at
sense A.) compare later reductio ad absurdum n.
 A. adv.
  To the point of absurdity; so as to demonstrate that the consequence
of making a particular assumption is something absurd or
contradictory; (also more generally) to an absurd or extreme degree.
Cf. reductio ad absurdum n.
1656  J. Evelyn Ess. 1st Bk. T. Lucretius Carus De Rerum Natura 146
This our Carus refells by a plain deduction ad absurdum.
1659  O. Walker Some Instr. Art Oratory i. 6 Suppositions and
Reduction ad absurdum, are diligently to be sought out.
1734  G. Berkeley Analyst §25.41 Why any other apagogical
Demonstration, or Demonstration ad absurdum should be admitted.
1787  J. Rogers Dialogues between Students at College iv. 89 These are
arguments ad absurdum.
1857  G. G. Scott Remarks Secular & Domest. Archit. xi. 240 A mere
piece of idle purism readily reducible ad absurdum.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 26 May 3/3, I have composed for your irresistible
museum of chess freaks an example of pinning ad absurdum.
1937  J. P. Marquand Late George Apley xvi. 191 This statement of
George Apley's‥reduced the situation ad absurdum, since Ransome could
no longer be considered as a serious possibility.
1985 Jrnl. Symbolic Logic 50 368 So it remains to prove (+), which we
do by reduction ad absurdum.
2003 Fangoria Oct. 73/2 The way he sneers at Nolan's suggestion that
he may have learned anything from watching Citizen Kane or the films
of John Ford ad absurdum.
 B. adj.
 (attrib.).
  Designating a method of demonstrating the falsity of a hypothesis by
showing that the consequence of assuming it to be true is something
absurd or contradictory; relating to or characteristic of such a
hypothesis or demonstration.
1809 London Med. & Surg. Spectator Jan. 45 The ad absurdum extreme of
inference from Brown's fundamental datum would be the reduction of all
medicines into one.
1836  T. Wyse Educ. Reform I. i. 214 The professed employment of the
‘ad absurdum’ argument.
1861 Times 28 Dec. 7/2 An ad absurdum reduction of the doctrine.
1926 Jrnl. Hygiene 25 344 We attempted to settle the matter by a
resort to the ad absurdum method.
2006  J. D. Bleich Bioethical Dilemmas II. i. 54 The statement is made
in an ad absurdum vein.

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