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implausible

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Etymology and origin of the English word implausible

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1602 W. Warner, Epitome of the Whole Historie of England More words from the 17th century
Ultimate origin
Latin plaudō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin plaudō
Latin plausibilis
English plausible
English implausible
From the same root
Latin applaudō ← plaudō
Latin complōdō ← plaudō
Latin explōdō ← plaudō
Latin plausus ← plaudō
Romanian aplauda ← plaudō

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪmˈplɔːzəb(ə)l/, /ɪmˈplɔːzɪb(ə)l/[1]
  • US: /ɪmˈplɑːzəb(ə)l/, /ɪmˈplɔːzəb(ə)l/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English im- + plausible,[2][3][4][5] im- being the form of in-, "not", before p.[6][7][8] The base is from Latin plausibilis (“praiseworthy, deserving applause”), from plaudō (“to applaud”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not worthy of applause; personally unacceptable: 1602, in W. Warner's Epitome of the Whole Historie of England.[2][4] Barnhart and Dictionary.com also date the word to 1602 or about 1600.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense follows the older meaning of plausible, "deserving applause", and is recorded only in the early 17th century.[2][4][7] The modern sense, "not having the appearance of truth or probability", is first recorded before 1677, in I. Barrow;[2][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1670s.[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "not specious; not likely to seduce or persuade", quoting Swift.[9]

Timeline

  • 1602 – not worthy of applause (obsolete).[2][4]
  • before 1677 – not having the appearance of truth or probability.[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not plausible; hard to believe or unlikely to be true: She offered an implausible excuse for missing the meeting.[8][10][2]

Word family

  • implausibility
  • implausibly

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Implausible.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/implausible. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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