plausible

adjective plau·si·ble \ ˈplȯ-zə-bəl \

|Updated on: 23 Jun 2018

Examples: plausible in a Sentence

Editor's Note: You Can Believe This History of plausible

Definition of plausible

1 : superficially fair, reasonable, or valuable but often specious

a plausible pretext

2 : superficially pleasing or persuasive

a swindler … , then a quack, then a smooth, plausible gentleman
—R. W. Emerson

3 : appearing worthy of belief

the argument was both powerful and plausible

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plausibleness

noun

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plausibly

play \ˈplȯ-zə-blē\ adverb

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Examples of plausible in a Sentence

I watch the ospreys who nest on Perch Island high atop their white spruce. Our sense of a plausible summer depends much on their diligent success at nest-building and procreation, and on their chicks fledging in late August. —Richard Ford, Wall Street Journal, 14-15 June 2008
… I'd mastered the quick size-up. Does the person seem agreeable over coffee at the drugstore counter and picking up his mail at the post office, drive a plausible vehicle, and know the weather forecast? —Edward Hoagland, Harper's, June 2007
Now, two NASA scientists, both also astronauts, suggest a simpler, safer, and much more plausible way of diverting an offending asteroid. Their method relies on the gravitational tug of a massive, unmanned spacecraft to pull the rock away from a damaging rendezvous with Earth. —R. Cowen, Science News, 12 Nov. 2005
… string theorists can exhibit plausible models of a unified Universe, but unfortunately they cannot explain why we inhabit a particular one. —Michael Atiyah, Nature, 22-29 Dec. 2005
it's a plausible explanation for the demise of that prehistoric species

Recent Examples of plausible from the Web

As an institution Hooters trades in plausible deniability.

— jaya saxena, GQ, "Is There a Place for Hooters in 2018?," 20 June 2018
The fantastic genre flourished from the 1870s to the 1930s, according to Winthrop-Young, but after that point, too much of the world was known for such speculation to seem plausible.

— lorraine boissoneault, Smithsonian, "What if Napoleon Hadn’t Lost Europe and Other Questions of Alternate History," 14 June 2018
Perhaps this scenario would seem plausible to the couple.

— amy dickinson, chicagotribune.com, "Psycho magnet not good partner material," 7 June 2018
So too, the way Mr Trump seems to have used Mr Cohen as a blunt instrument, while keeping him at arm’s length for plausible deniability, is a familiar pattern.

— The Economist, "Why Stormy Daniels is so dangerous," 22 Mar. 2018
His insistence that the original video is being taken out of context is a textbook example of claiming plausible deniability, one where anyone who is frightened, hurt, or offended by his comments is simply missing a joke.

— megan farokhmanesh, The Verge, "Disney remixer Pogo can’t walk back his homophobic comments on YouTube," 1 June 2018
All of which seems extremely plausible, if not likely, at this point...

— SI.com, "Mailbag: Petra Kvitova Is the Best Story in Tennis Right Now, and Maybe in All of Sports," 16 May 2018
That doesn’t mean that the claim is not plausible, however, considering the ever growing number of people in Trump’s orbit who have been indicted or found to have behaved unethically.

— chas danner, Daily Intelligencer, "Report: Trump Aides Used Weinstein Tactics to Target Iran Deal," 6 May 2018
The argument that manufacturers cannot be held responsible for the use of their tools was, however, more plausible in an age when gun use was shifting.

— heather souvaine horn, The New Republic, "A System in Denial," 16 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'plausible.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

You Can Believe This History of plausible

Today the word plausible usually means "reasonable" or "believable," but it once held the meanings "worthy of being applauded" and "approving." It comes to us from the Latin adjective plausibilis ("worthy of applause"), which in turn derives from the verb plaudere, meaning "to applaud or clap." Other "plaudere" descendants in English include "applaud," "plaudit" (the earliest meaning of which was "a round of applause"), and "explode" (from Latin explodere, meaning "to drive off the stage by clapping).