plausible

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈplɔː.zɪ.bəl/, /ˈplɔː.zə.bəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈplɑ.zɪ.bəl/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈploː.zɪ.bəl/

Adjective

plausible (comparative more plausible, superlative most plausible)

1. Seemingly or apparently valid, likely, or acceptable; conceivably true or likely.

   Antonym: implausible

   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).

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

• plausible deniability
• plausibility
• plausibly

Translations

likely, acceptable

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: plausible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: přijatelný (cs), věrohodný, uvěřitelný (cs), hodnověrný (cs), plauzibilní (cs)
• Dutch: plausibel (nl), aannemelijk (nl), aanneembaar (nl)
• Esperanto: kredebla, kredinda, verŝajna
• Estonian: usutav, tõenäoline, mõistlik, vastuvõetav
• Finnish: uskottava (fi)
• French: plausible (fr)
• Galician: plausible (gl), plausíbel (gl)
• Georgian: დამაჯერებელი (damaǯerebeli), შესაძლებელი (šesaʒlebeli), სავარაუდო (savaraudo), მოსალოდნელი (mosalodneli)
• German: plausibel (de), glaubhaft (de)
• Greek: ευλογοφανής (el) (evlogofanís)
• Hebrew: סביר (he) m (savír)
• Hindi: मुमकिन (hi) (mumkin)
• Hungarian: elfogadható (hu)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: probābilis
• Latvian: iespējams, ticams
• Macedonian: уверлив (uverliv), веродостоен (verodostoen), веројатен (verojaten)
• Manx: so-chredjallagh
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: do przyjęcia (pl), wiarygodny (pl), prawdopodobny (pl)
• Portuguese: plausível (pt)
• Romanian: plauzibil (ro)
• Russian: правдоподо́бный (ru) (pravdopodóbnyj), вероя́тный (ru) (verojátnyj), похо́жий на пра́вду (poxóžij na právdu), состоя́тельный (ru) (sostojátelʹnyj), аргументи́рованный (ru) (argumentírovannyj), прие́млемый (ru) (prijémlemyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: plauzibilan (sh), prihvatljiv (sh), moguć, vjerojatan (sh), verovatan (sh)
• Spanish: probable (es), plausible (es)
• Swedish: rimlig (sv), plausibel (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: правдоподібний (uk) (pravdopodibnyj), ймовірний (uk) (jmovirnyj)

obtaining approbation

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: uskottava (fi), pettävä (fi), harhaanjohtava (fi)
• Ukrainian: пристойний m (prystojnyj), заслуговуючий на довіру m (zasluhovujučyj na doviru)

worthy of being applauded

• Catalan: plausible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: ocenitelný
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Esperanto: aprobebla
• Galician: plausíbel (gl), plausible (gl)
• Hindi: प्रशंसनीय (hi) (praśansnīya)
• Polish: chwalebny (pl), godny pochwały
• Portuguese: plausível (pt)
• Russian: досто́йный похвалы́ (dostójnyj poxvalý)
• Spanish: plausible (es)

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plausibilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pləwˈzib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [plawˈzi.ble]
• Rhymes: -ible

Adjective

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)

1. plausible

Derived terms

• plausiblement

Further reading

• “plausible” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “plausible”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “plausible” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “plausible” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin plausibilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plo.zibl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

plausible (plural plausibles)

1. plausible

   Near-synonyms: possible, probable

Related terms

• applaudir

Further reading

• “plausible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Adjective

plausible m or f (plural plausibles)

1. plausible

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin plausibilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plauˈsible/ [plau̯ˈsi.βべーた̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: plau‧si‧ble

Adjective

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)

1. plausible

   Synonym: verosímil

Derived terms

• plausibilidad
• plausiblemente

 

Further reading

• “plausible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28