plausible

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈplɔː.zɪ.bl̩/, /ˈplɔː.zə.bl̩/
• (General American, cot–caught merger, Atlantic Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈplɑ.zɪ.bəl/, [ˈplɑ.zɪ.bl̩]

  • Audio (Southern California):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈploː.zɪ.bəl/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈploː.zə.bəl/
• (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ˈplaː.zə.bəl/
• Hyphenation: plau‧si‧ble

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^[1], 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."

Borrowed from Latin plausibilis.

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

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ible

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)

1. plausible

• plausiblement

• “plausible”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “plausible”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “plausible” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “plausible”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Learned borrowing from Latin plausibilis.

• IPA^(key): /plo.zibl/

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

plausible (plural plausibles)

1. plausible

   Near-synonyms: possible, probable

• applaudir

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

plausible m or f (plural plausibles)

1. plausible

From Latin plausibilis.

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

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)

1. praiseworthy, laudable, commendable
2. plausible, possible

   Synonym: verosímil

Second sense ("possible") is not considered by the Royal Academy, but is the meaning usually understood by speakers.

• “plausible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025