plausible adj

1 apparently reasonable and valid [ant: implausible]

2 likely but not certain to be or become true or real; "a likely result"; "he foresaw a probable loss" [syn: probable, likely] [ant: improbable]

3 within the realm of credibility; "not a very likely excuse"; "a plausible story" [syn: likely]

4 appearing to merit belief or acceptance; "a credible witness"; "a plausible story" [syn: credible]

English

Pronunciation

• a UK /ˈplɔːz.ɪ.bəl/|/ˈplɔːz.ə.bəl/, /"plO:z.I.b@l/|/"plO:z.@.b@l/

Adjective

plausible

1. Seemingly or apparently valid, likely, or acceptable; credible: a plausible excuse.
2. Worthy of being applauded; praiseworthy; commendable; ready.
3. Obtaining approbation; specifically pleasing; apparently right; specious; as, a plausible pretext; plausible manners; a plausible delusion.
4. Using specious arguments or discourse; as, a plausible speaker.
5. A possibility in reason or thought experiment, but which may as a matter of fact be true or false, the truth of which is yet unknown to the thinker.

Derived terms

• plausibility

Translations

acceptable, admissible, apparent, apparently sound, believable, casuistic, cogent, cogitable, colorable, colored, conceivable, conceivably possible, contingent, credible, creditable, deceitful, deceptive, disingenuous, empty, fallacious, fiduciary, gilded, hollow, humanly possible, illusive, imaginable, insincere, jesuitic, just, justifiable, legitimate, likely, logical, meretricious, misleading, ostensible, overrefined, oversubtle, philosophistic, possible, potential, presentable, probable, rational, reasonable, reliable, sane, seeming, sensible, smooth, sophistic, sophistical, sound, specious, tenable, thinkable, tinsel, trustworthy, trusty, unexceptionable, unimpeachable, unquestionable, well-argued, well-founded, well-grounded, wholesome, worthy of faith