荒谬（Absurdism），又译荒谬主义，哲学术语，字源是拉丁文的absurdus，意为音乐上的「不合调」，在存在主义中用来形容生命无意义、矛盾的、失序的状态。

一个事物的基本意义的存在必须要一个更高的意体来解释。但是，这个更高意体的意义又必须要一个比它更高的意体来解释。这个“解释的锁链”不可能达到一个结果，从而，没有任何东西可以拥有至高的意义。哪怕这个结果被发现了，它也有可能并不能满足我们。好比说，当一头猪发现牠的“至高意义”是被人当成食物屠宰掉时，它不会对这个“意义”感到满足的。从而，根据存在主义和虚无主义，生命是无意义的，是荒诞的。

An absurdity is a thing that is extremely unreasonable, so as to be foolish or not taken seriously, or the state of being so. "Absurd" is an adjective used to describe an absurdity, e.g., "this encyclopedia article is absurd." It derives from the Latin absurdum meaning "out of tune", hence irrational. The Latin surdus means "deaf", implying stupidity. Absurdity is contrasted with seriousness in reasoning. In general usage, absurdity may be synonymous with ridiculousness and nonsense. In specialized usage, absurdity is related to extremes in bad reasoning or pointlessness in reasoning; ridiculousness is related to extremes of incongruous juxtaposition, laughter, and ridicule; and nonsense is related to a lack of meaningfulness. Absurdism is a concept in philosophy related to the notion of absurdity.