risible

adjective

ˈri-zə-bəl How to pronounce risible (audio)
Definition of risiblenext
1
as in funny
causing or intended to cause laughter a risible comment that made the whole class laugh

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in ridiculous
so foolish or pointless as to be worthy of scornful laughter the idea that people are meant to have wings is risible

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of risible His risible evocations of this brand of male psyche exposes emotional paralysis like a raw nerve. — Daniel Felsenthal, Pitchfork, 7 Apr. 2026 Some in the audience find this risible. — Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026 The public language may seem risible, but that is only a surface-level thing. — Nick Miller, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2026 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 See All Example Sentences for risible
Recent Examples of Synonyms for risible
  1. funny
  2. ridiculous
  3. humorous
  4. absurd
  5. comedic
  6. silly
  7. amusing
  8. pathetic
Adjective
  • Martin McDonagh’s latest comic provocation takes place on Easter Island and in 1970s Chile, where a ferociously funny John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell aim to upend the rule of law.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2026
  • Sian is so funny and fun, and so is Mark, and so is Dylan [O’Brien].
    — Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of funny
Adjective
  • While the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI won’t be available on PC this month, some gamers are making ridiculous preparations to use their PC graphics cards to apply Nvidia’s DLSS 5 technology to the console exclusive.
    — Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 5 Nov. 2026
  • First, the incident pushes Rhys to finally get over his ridiculous grudge and mistrust of Nesta for her actions in Flame and Shadow.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of ridiculous
Adjective
  • The re-enactments bring up painful memories, but also an inappropriate and humorous side of Jolanda.
    — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 30 Oct. 2026
  • What readers are saying The conversation explores a variety of humorous and satirical takes on the themes presented in the opinion piece.
    — Matt Davies, Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of humorous
Adjective
  • At the start of this election cycle, the notion that Democrats would seriously compete in such deep-red bastions as Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas would have seemed absurd.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2026
  • For the second of two F--- Cancer gigs, Reynoso has racked up a gloriously absurd 13 local bands on one madcap, rapid-fire club bill, where each will swarm the stage rig to plug in and play 10-minute sets before giving way to the next act.
    — Aaron Davis, Sacbee.com, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of absurd
Adjective
  • Following an outcry from Kirk supporters, the on-air moment led to Cash App, Chewy and other advertisers pulling their support of the progressive comedic podcast.
    — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 8 Nov. 2026
  • John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi lead writer-director Martin McDonagh’s comedic thriller about two CIA operatives who travel from Santiago, Chile, to Easter Island in 1973.
    — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 7 Nov. 2026
Definition of comedic
Adjective
  • What became apparent to us was that the game was like a sponge for silly ideas.
    — Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 1 Nov. 2026
  • This week was packed with pre-midterm drama, of which only the silliest is in the quiz.
    — Holly J. Morris, NPR, 30 Oct. 2026
Definition of silly
Adjective
  • Even at their most disturbing, scenes describing carnage tend to be colorful and amusing.
    — Matthew Jacobs, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2026
  • The most amusing part was a script, set to reinstall QQMusic and Ximalaya—two Chinese-market media subscription apps—plus an app store if they were ever found missing.
    — Adam Ismail, The Drive, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of amusing
Adjective
  • In fact, the only previous cinematic encounter was the unfortunate 2003 live-action version with Mike Myers that flopped critically and at the box office, winning a pathetic 10 Razzie nominations as one of the worst pictures of that year.
    — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Simply pathetic, but, MY LIONS stay close in the NFC North race and sets up what should be one of the biggest Thanksgiving Day games in Lions history when the Bears come to town on November 26.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of pathetic

Browse Nearby Words

rise (to)
risible
rising
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Risible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/risible. Accessed 10 Nov. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of defer

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

31 Useful Rhetorical Devices

More Commonly Misspelled Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
woman sitting on floor holding book in front of her face on pink background
Famous Novels, Last Lines Quiz Needless to say, spoiler alert.
See All