preposterous
/pɹɪˈpɒstəəs/prih-PAH-stur-uhs
/pɹɪˈpɑstɚəs/prih-PAH-stur-uhs
Meaningbefore-after
Common meaning: absurd
- prebefore
- postercoming afterLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1405 · scan
- ousadjective ending: full of, having
‘before’ + ‘coming after’ → preposterous
Journey through time
- Latinpraeposterus‘reversed’source
- Englishpreposterous‘absurd’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin posterus ‘coming after’.
Roots
- posterus, -a, -um Latin “coming after”
Related words
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