Plausible

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈplɔːz.ɪ.bÉ™l/, /ˈplɔːz.É™.bÉ™l/

Origin

From Latin plausibilis ("deserving of applause"), from the participle stem of plaudere ("to applaud").

Full definition of plausible

Adjective

1. Seemingly or apparently valid, likely, or acceptable; credible: a plausible excuse.
• 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformative Grammar: A First CourseIn 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. Using specious arguments or discourse.a plausible speaker
4. (obsolete) Worthy of being applauded; praiseworthy; commendable; ready.

Derived terms

• plausibility