# plausible
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈplɔː.zɪ.bəl/, /ˈplɔː.zə.bəl/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈplɑ.zɪ.bəl/
** Audio (General American):(file)
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈploː.zɪ.bəl/

### Adjective

plausible (comparative more plausible, superlative most plausible)
* 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).
** 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.
* Obtaining approbation; specifically pleasing; apparently right; specious.
    a plausible pretext; plausible manners; a plausible delusion
* (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
## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin plausibilis.

### Pronunciation

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

### Adjective

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)
* 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, 2025
* “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: /plo.zibl/
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

plausible (plural plausibles)
* 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)
* plausible

## Spanish
### Etymology

From Latin plausibilis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plauˈsible/ [plau̯ˈsi.β̞le]
* Rhymes: -ible
* Syllabification: plau‧si‧ble

### Adjective

plausible m or f (masculine and feminine plural plausibles)
* 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 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10