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plausible

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Etymology

From Latin plausibilis (“deserving applause, praiseworthy, acceptable, pleasing”), from the participle stem of plaudere (“to applaud”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

plausible (comparative more plausible, superlative most plausible)

  1. Seemingly or apparently valid, likely, or acceptable; conceivably true or likely.
    Synonyms: credible, believable, reasonable, tenable, specious
    Antonyms: implausible, incredible, unbelievable, far-fetched
    a plausible excuse
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformative Grammar: A First Course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 64:
      In short, the twin assumptions that syntactic rules are category-based, and that there are a highly restricted finite set of categories in any natural language (perhaps no more than a dozen major categories), together with the assumption that the child either knows (innately) or learns (by experience) that all rules are structure-dependent ( =category-based), provide a highly plausible model of language acquisition, in which languages become learnable in a relatively short, finite period of time (a few years).
    • 2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014‎, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 43:
      Russian SPETSNAZ are irregular forces that operate covertly, providing the Russian government plausible deniability.
  2. Obtaining approbation; specifically pleasing; apparently right; specious.
    a plausible pretext; plausible manners; a plausible delusion
  3. (obsolete) Worthy of being applauded; praiseworthy; commendable; ready.
    • 1693, John Hacket, Scrinia reserata: a Memorial offered to the great Deservings of John Williams:
      capable of receiving a plauſible Anſwer
    • 1955, William H. Townsend, Lincoln and the Bluegrass: Slavery and Civil War in Kentucky:
      […] a coachman named Richard, who was described as a "sensible, well-behaved yellow boy, who is plausible and can read and write."

Derived terms

Translations

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plausibilis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)

  1. plausible

Derived terms

Further reading

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French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin plausibilis.

Pronunciation

Adjective

plausible (plural plausibles)

  1. plausible
    Near-synonyms: possible, probable

Further reading

Middle French

Adjective

plausible m or f (plural plausibles)

  1. plausible

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin plausibilis.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /plauˈsible/ [plau̯ˈsi.β̞le]
  • Rhymes: -ible
  • Syllabification: plau‧si‧ble

Adjective

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)

  1. plausible
    Synonym: verosímil

Derived terms

Further reading

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