risible
adjective
Did you know?
Say “cheese”! Now say thank you to the risorius muscles near the corners of your mouth for helping you smile. You might find this exercise a bit ridiculous—risible, even—but we’re here to explain that there is no need for derision; it’s for a wordy reason. Risible, ridiculous, derision, and risorius all come from the Latin verb ridēre, meaning “to laugh.” This etymology helps make the meaning of risible clear; something is described as risible (such as saying “cheese” out loud to yourself while looking at your phone/computer) when it arouses or provokes laughter. But just as its synonym laughable often describes things deserving not just of laughter but of eye-rolling scorn, risible is frequently applied to that which merits both sneer and chortle, scoff and guffaw. Words are funny like that.
Examples of risible in a Sentence
George Caulkin, New York Times, 7 July 2025
The risible ending lets down both actors, each of whom give it their all (especially Glusman) while the screenplay feels like there are chunks of character motivations and development tossed into the trash.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 4 July 2025
The risible final montage casts Brooker in a moralist light befitting Mother Hen, leaving us with a storybook fable, the moral of which is to not check our damn phones while behind the wheel.
29.
—Charles Bramesco, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025
Kagame’s claims that the FDLR poses a threat to Rwanda are similarly risible.
—Michela Wrong, Foreign Affairs, 13 Apr. 2023
See All Example Sentences for risible
Cite this Entry
“Risible.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/risible. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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risible
adjective
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