plausible

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈplɑ.zɪ.b(ə)l̩/ UK /ˈplɔː.zɪ.bl̩/ See IPA manual

Freq #14072

Meanings

1

adj
Seeming reasonable or likely to be true.

She gave a plausible explanation for being late.
2

adj
Skilled at sounding convincing, often in a misleading way.

He was a plausible liar who fooled everyone for years.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · seeming reasonable or... believable credible reasonable tenable

2 adj · skilled at sounding... specious

Word family

Derived forms implausiblenonplausibleoverplausibleplausibility plausibleness plausiblysemiplausibleunplausible

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

plausible excuse
a reason for an action or failure that seems believable

Adjective + noun

Etymology

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

plausibilis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# plausible

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈplɑ.zɪ.b(ə)l̩/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈplɔː.zɪ.bl̩/
**Frequency rank:** 14072

## Meanings
1. Seeming reasonable or likely to be true.
2. Skilled at sounding convincing, often in a misleading way.

## Examples
- She gave a plausible explanation for being late.
- He was a plausible liar who fooled everyone for years.

## Derived Forms
- implausible
- nonplausible
- overplausible
- plausibility
- plausibleness
- plausibly
- semiplausible
- unplausible

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: plausibilis

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

## AI Etymology
Plausible is from Latin plausibilis (“deserving applause, praiseworthy, acceptable, pleasing”), from the participle stem of plaudere (“to applaud”). In present-day use, it can mean seeming reasonable or likely to be true, or skilled at sounding convincing, often in a misleading way. Derived formations include implausible, nonplausible, overplausible, plausibility, plausibleness.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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