Phrase guide
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.
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noun
The method of disproving a statement by assuming the statement is true and, with that assumption, arriving at a blatant contradiction.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Topics: human-sciences, logic, mathematics, philosophy, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: apagoge, proof by contradiction, reduction to the absurd
Antonyms: none provided
noun
(reduction to the absurd) a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proof of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: reductio
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: disproof, falsification, refutation
History
Unadapted borrowing from Latin reductiō ad absurdum.
