• Preposterous

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    From Latin praeposterus ("with the hinder part before, reversed, inverted, perverted"), from prae ("before") + posterus ("coming after").

    Full definition of preposterous

    Adjective

    preposterous

    1. Absurd, or contrary to common sense.
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 16, The preposterous altruism too!...Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.
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