You might feel a bit silly that you need to search “how do you spell ridiculous” online, but don’t be! Many have used “ridiculus” and “rediculous” instead of the correct English spelling of the adjective. And in this article, we will teach you how to master this commonly misspelled word with an easy-to-remember trick.
What is Ridiculous?
The word “ridiculous” means something illogical or something that unreasonably makes no sense. You use it to describe situations, utterances, actions, or interactions that lack rationale. For instance, if your friend’s joke doesn’t make sense, you can say, “That’s ridiculous!”
Fun Fact: Before the adjective became ri-dic-u-lous, many writers, including William Shakespeare, used “rediculous” during the 17th century. The vowel change from E to I is due to the “Great Vowel Shift.”
Examples
- The allegations of voter fraud are baseless and ridiculous!
- There is no ridiculous answer to my hypothetical question.
- His pronunciation of the word ridiculous is the cause of his misspelling.
- The lawyer’s reasons for not appearing before the committee investigating his involvement in yesterday’s scandal were ridiculous.
- It is ridiculous how often people misspell the word “RIDICULOUS.”
- The spacecraft’s speed was ridiculous.
- It is ridiculous how much time is spent debating validation steps when they should be straightforward and obvious.
- Finding the right spelling of ridiculous is not a ridiculous idea.
How Do You Spell Ridiculous?
R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S is the correct spelling of the word. The most common mistake many writers and students make is interchanging the “U” that comes after the “C” and the “OU” that appears before “S” to read as “ridicoulos.”
The other common error is replacing the second letter “I” with “E” to appear as “rediculous.”
Trick to Remembering the Spelling
Breaking the word into four syllables, RI-DIC-U-LOUS, can help you remember the correct spelling.
Another way is to start with “ridicule” and then replace “e” with the suffix -ous. This trick is similar to “adventure” to “adventurous,” wherein you drop the letter e and replace it with -ous.
This suffix spelling tip, by the way, turns a noun (ridicule) into an adjective (ridiculous). Keep in mind that this tip is not applicable to all words that end with E.
Of course, remember to use the word more frequently in your writing!
What Is Another Word for Ridiculous?
If you’re still mastering the spelling of the word ridiculous, you can always use one of its many synonyms:
- Irrational
- Ludicrous
- Silly
- Illogical
- Nonsensical
- Absurd
- Preposterous
- Amusing
- Laughable
- Bizarre
- Senseless
- Foolish
- Stupid
- Unreasonable
- Comical
Final Thoughts
Spelling a word like ridiculous can be daunting at first. Hopefully, our spelling tricks, especially starting with “ridicule” and replacing “e” with “ous” were helpful to your question on “how do you spell ridiculous?”
