- 1荒謬的、離譜的
A preposterous idea, story, or price is completely unreasonable — so silly that it feels the wrong way round. You are not making a small complaint; you are saying common sense has been stood on its head. That's preposterous! is something an adult might say when a claim is too much to accept. It is stronger and a little more formal than silly, and sharper than strange. The Latin pieces are prae, before, and posterus, coming after: the back put in front. That picture still helps — a preposterous plan has its parts in the wrong order. Though actually, people also stretch it just to mean ridiculously high, as in preposterous fees, without any logic puzzle at all.
From the word’s history
From Latin praeposterus 'reversed', from prae 'before' + posterus 'coming after'.
源自拉丁文，prae（前）加 posterus（後）：前後顛倒，引申為荒謬。
組成From Latin praeposterus, with the hinder part before, reversed, from prae, before, + posterus, coming after.
同家族的字
- preposterouslythe adverb: in a completely unreasonable way
- preposterousnessthe noun: the quality of being completely unreasonable
- posteriorfrom the same Latin posterus, coming after — the back part
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
preposterousadj/pɹɪˈpɒstəɹəs/
- 1
Absurd, or contrary to common sense.
- [...] I did incounter that obſeene and moſt prepoſterous euent that draweth frõ my ſnowhite pen the ebon coloured Incke, which here thou vieweſt, beholdeſt, ſuruayeſt, or ſeeſt. [...] There did I ſee that low ſpirited Swaine, [...] hight Coſtard, (Clow[ne]. O mee) ſorted and conſorted contrary to thy eſtabliſhed proclaymed Edict and continent Cannon; Which with, o with, but with this I paſſion to ſay wherewith: / Clo[wne]. With a Wench.
- So I am to send Mrs. Churchill down to the very spot where a treasonable correspondence is most easily managed; and by the ease with which she gets out of a first scrape, give her all possible encouragement to get into another. Well, I was quite right in asking what preposterous request had you come here about!
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。