Dictionary

incongruous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɪnˈkɒŋ.ɹʊu.ʌs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɪnˈkɑn.ɡɹu.əs/ (US)
• /ɪŋˈkɑŋ.ɡɹu.əs/ (US)
• /ɪnˈkɒn.ɡɹʊu.ʌs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Latin incongruus, from in- (“not”) + congruus (“congruent”), equivalent to in- + congruous.

Meanings

1. Not similar or congruent; not matching or fitting in.
   • Ona was blue-eyed and fair, while Jurgis had great black eyes with beetling brows, and thick black hair that curled in waves about his ears—in short, they were one of those incongruous and impossible married couples with which Mother Nature so often wills to confound all prophets. 1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter I, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC:
   • For a few moments England toyed with the idea of making it a more difficult night than necessary. Scotland had scored a goal that seemed incongruous to the rest of their performance and, briefly, a fiercely partisan crowd sensed an improbable comeback. 2014 November 18, Daniel Taylor, “England and Wayne Rooney see off Scotland in their own back yard”, in The Guardian:
   • [P]erhaps he thought me, with my basket of summer fruit, and my lack of the dignity age confers, an incongruous figure in such a scene. 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 34, in Villette. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:
   • Ardent suns had likewise tanned his face till it was swarthy as a Spaniard's. The yellow mustache appeared incongruous in the midst of such swarthiness. 1912, Jack London, chapter 1, in A Son Of The Sun:
   • A slightly incongruous note is struck by the National Westminster Bank beside the Vine [pub], a tiny dolls' house of a building, about the size of a garden shed, in herringbone-patterned brick. 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 202, about Goudhurst, Kent:
2. Of two numbers, with respect to a third, such that their difference can not be divided by it without a remainder.
   • 20 and 25 are incongruous with respect to 4.

Forms

Deriveds

incongruously · incongruousness

Relateds

incongruent · incongruence · incongruity

Synonyms

incongruitous

Translations (33)

eo miskongrua (not matching) · el αταίριαστος (not matching) · eo malakorda (not matching) · la alienus (not matching) · ru неподходя́щий (not matching) · ru неуме́стный (not matching) · de unvereinbar (not matching) · it incongruo (not matching) · el ανάρμοστος (not matching) · de uneinheitlich (not matching) · cs nezapadající (not matching) · de disparat (not matching) · fi sopimaton (not matching) · pt incongruente (not matching) · tr uyumsuz (not matching) · es incongruente (not matching) · de unpassend (not matching) · gl incongruente (not matching) · bg несъвместим (not matching) · ca incongruent (not matching) · fi ristiriitainen (not matching) · fr incongru (not matching) · ja 不調和 (not matching) · de ungleich (not matching) · fi epäjohdonmukainen (not matching) · ro incongruent (not matching) · cs nepřípadný (not matching) · cs nehodící se (not matching) · cs neslučitelný (not matching) · ca incongru (not matching) · nl ongepast (not matching) · de nicht zusammenpassend (not matching) · bg несъответстващ (not matching)