plausible

adjective

having an appearance of truth or reason; seemingly worthy of approval or acceptance; credible; believable: a plausible excuse; a plausible plot.

well-spoken and apparently, but often deceptively, worthy of confidence or trust: a plausible commentator.

Origin:
1535–45; < Latin plausibilis deserving applause, equivalent to plaus(us) (past participle of plaudere to applaud) + -ibilis -ible

Related forms

plau·si·bil·i·ty, plau·si·ble·ness, noun

plau·si·bly, adverb

non·plau·si·bil·i·ty, noun

non·plau·si·ble, adjective

non·plau·si·ble·ness, noun

non·plau·si·b·ly, adverb

o·ver·plau·si·ble, adjective

o·ver·plau·si·ble·ness, noun

o·ver·plau·si·b·ly, adverb

su·per·plau·si·ble, adjective

su·per·plau·si·ble·ness, noun

su·per·plau·si·b·ly, adverb

un·plau·si·ble, adjective

un·plau·si·ble·ness, noun

un·plau·si·b·ly, adverb

Synonyms
1. Plausible, specious describe that which has the appearance of truth but might be deceptive. The person or thing that is plausible strikes the superficial judgment favorably; it may or may not be true: a plausible argument (one that cannot be verified or believed in entirely). Specious definitely implies deceit or falsehood; the surface appearances are quite different from what is beneath: a specious pretense of honesty; a specious argument (one deliberately deceptive, probably for selfish or evil purposes).

Antonyms
1. honest, sincere.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

plausible (ˈplɔːzəb^əl)

—*adj*
1.	apparently reasonable, valid, truthful, etc: a plausible excuse
2.	apparently trustworthy or believable: a plausible speaker

[C16: from Latin plausibilis worthy of applause, from plaudere to applaud]

plausi'bility

—n

'plausibleness

—n

'plausibly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

plausible

1540s, "acceptable, agreeable," from L. plausibilis "deserving applause, acceptable," from pp. stem of plaudere "to applaud" (see plaudit). Meaning "having the appearance of truth" is recorded from 1560s.

Example sentences

But they have failed to find a plausible explanation for its existence.

It really did seem plausible that cultural studies could be the start of

something big.

Utilitarianism provides a plausible framework for deciding who should get

trampled.

However, the third stage thrust termination sounds plausible too.

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knave rationalize sophistry specious stack

Matching Quote

"Historically speaking, the most obvious and most decisive distinction between the American and the French Revolutions was that the historical inheritance of the American Revolution was "limited monarchy" and that of the French Revolution an absolutism which apparently reached far back into the first centuries of our era and the last centuries of the Roman Empire. Nothing, indeed, seems more natural than that a revolution should be predetermined by the type of government it overthrows; nothing, therefore, appears more plausible than to explain the new absolute, the absolute revolution, by the absolute monarchy which preceded it, and to conclude that the more absolute the ruler, the more absolute the revolution will be which replaces him."

-Hannah Arendt