Standard Lemma guide

incongruity

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ɪnkɑŋˈɡɹuɪti/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɪnkɒŋˈɡɹuːɪti/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 NG K AO0 NG R UW1 IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The state of being incongruous, or lacking congruence.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: incongruence, incongruency

Antonyms: congruence, congruency, congruity

2

noun

Meaning 2

An instance or point of disagreement.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dissimilarity, discrepancy, inconsistency

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A thing that is incongruous.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the quality of disagreeing; being unsuitable and inappropriate

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: incongruousness

Antonyms: congruity

Broader terms: incompatibility

Narrower terms: irony

History

Etymology

From Middle French incongruité, from Medieval Latin incongruitās, from Latin incongruus.

Across languages

Translations

44 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: несъответствие (nesǎotvetstvie) — being incongruous
  • Catalan: incongruència — being incongruous
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不一致 (bùyīzhì) — being incongruous
  • Finnish: sopimattomuus — being incongruous
  • Finnish: yhteensopimattomuus — being incongruous
  • Finnish: epäjohdonmukaisuus — being incongruous
  • Finnish: ristiriitaisuus — being incongruous
  • French: incongruité — being incongruous
  • German: Inkongruenz — being incongruous
  • German: Unvereinbarkeit — being incongruous
  • German: Ungleichheit — being incongruous
  • German: Disparität — being incongruous
  • German: Nichtübereinstimmung — being incongruous
  • Hindi: असंगति (asaṅgti) — being incongruous
  • Hindi: विसंगति (visaṅgti) — being incongruous
  • Irish: aimhriar — being incongruous
  • Irish: aiste — being incongruous
  • Irish: coimhthíos — being incongruous
  • Irish: mífhreagracht — being incongruous
  • Irish: neamhréireacht — being incongruous
  • Italian: incongruenza — being incongruous
  • Italian: incongruità — being incongruous
  • Manx: neuchooieid — being incongruous
  • Manx: neuyeshid — being incongruous
  • Portuguese: incongruência — being incongruous
  • Portuguese: incongruidade — being incongruous
  • Romanian: incongruență — being incongruous
  • Russian: несоотве́тствие (nesootvétstvije) — being incongruous
  • Spanish: incongruencia — being incongruous
  • Catalan: discrepància — point of disagreement
  • Finnish: eroavaisuus — point of disagreement
  • Finnish: ristiriita — point of disagreement
  • French: incongruité — point of disagreement
  • German: Diskrepanz — point of disagreement
  • German: Unvereinbarkeit — point of disagreement
  • German: Unterschied — point of disagreement
  • German: Missverhältnis — point of disagreement
  • Romanian: discrepanță — point of disagreement
  • Russian: несоотве́тствие (nesootvétstvije) — point of disagreement
  • Finnish: epäkohta — a thing that is incongruous
  • Finnish: epäjohdonmukaisuus — a thing that is incongruous
  • German: Inkongruenz — a thing that is incongruous
  • Romanian: incongruență — a thing that is incongruous
  • Russian: несоотве́тствие (nesootvétstvije) — a thing that is incongruous