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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ridiculous \Ri*dic"u*lous\, adjective [L. ridiculosus, ridiculus, fr. ridere to laigh. Cf. {Risible}.]
1. Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior.
Agricola, discerning that those little targets and unwieldy glaives ill pointed would soon become ridiculous against the thrust and close, commanded three Batavian cohorts . . . to draw up and come to handy strokes. --Milton.
2. Involving or expressing ridicule. [R.]
[It] provokes me to ridiculous smiling. --Shak.
Syn: Ludicrous; laughable; risible; droll; comical; absurd; preposterous. See {Ludicrous}. --- {Ri*dic"u*lous*ly}, adverb -- {Ri*dic"u*lous*ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
ridiculous
adjective
1: inspiring scornful pity; "how silly an ardent and unsuccessful wooer can be especially if he is getting on in years"- Dashiell Hammett [syn: {pathetic}, {silly}]
2: completely devoid of wisdom or good sense; "the absurd excuse that the dog ate his homework"; "that's a cockeyed idea"; "ask a nonsensical question and get a nonsensical answer"; "a contribution so small as to be laughable"; "it is ludicrous to call a cottage a mansion"; "a preposterous attempt to turn back the pages of history"; "her conceited assumption of universal interest in her rather dull children was ridiculous" [syn: {absurd}, {cockeyed}, {derisory}, {idiotic}, {laughable}, {ludicrous}, {nonsensical}, {preposterous}]
3: broadly or extravagantly humorous; resembling farce; "the wild farcical exuberance of a clown"; "ludicrous green hair" [syn: {farcical}, {ludicrous}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
98 Moby Thesaurus words for "ridiculous": a bit thick, a bit thin, absurd, amusing, antic, barred, beyond belief, bizarre, closed-out, cockamamie, comic, comical, contrary to reason, crazy, doubtable, doubtful, droll, dubious, dubitable, eccentric, excluded, extravagant, fantastic, farcical, foolish, funny, grotesque, hard of belief, hard to believe, high-flown, hilarious, hopeless, humorous, implausible, impossible, improper, inane, inconceivable, incongruous, incredible, indecent, indelicate, insane, laughable, logically impossible, ludicrous, malodorous, mirthful, monstrous, nonsensical, not deserving belief, not possible, open to doubt, open to suspicion, outlandish, outrageous, outre, oxymoronic, paradoxical, passing belief, poppycockish, preposterous, priceless, problematic, prohibited, quaint, queer, questionable, quizzical, rich, risible, rough, ruled-out, screaming, self-contradictory, silly, staggering belief, stupid, suspect, suspicious, tall, thick, thin, unbecoming, unbelievable, unconvincing, undecorous, unearthly, ungodly, unimaginable, unseemly, unthinkable, unworthy of belief, weird, whimsical, wild, witty, zany
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