plausible

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin plausibilis (“deserving applause; acceptable, pleasing”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from plausus, the past participle of plaudō (“to clap, applaud”),^[2][6][3][7] with the suffix -ibilis (-ible).^[2][5][3] The OED compares Middle French plausible, recorded in the sense "pleasing, winning popular approval" from 1552 and "convincing" from 1580, in Montaigne.^[2] It is related to plaudit and applaud.^[3][4][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Acceptable, agreeable, pleasing; winning public approval: 1541, in T. Paynell's translation of Felicius's Conspiracie of Catiline.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

At first the word kept close to the Latin: it meant pleasing or popular (1541–1828), expressing applause (1542–1622) and deserving applause, praiseworthy (1561–1709), senses now obsolete.^[2][7][4] Of people and their manners it meant affable or ingratiating from 1577 to 1880.^[2] The modern sense, of an argument or statement that seems reasonable or true, is recorded from 1565,^[2][3][4] often with the implication that the appearance is false or superficial.^[2][4][5] Johnson (1755) gives both sides: "such as gains approbation; superficially pleasing or taking; specious; popular; right in appearance", quoting Shakespeare's "plausible obedience".^[10] From 1761 a plausible person was one who is convincing, especially with intent to deceive.^[2] The noun plausibility is recorded from 1596, first for agreeableness, and in the sense of seeming reasonableness from 1649, in Milton.^[3] The expression plausible deniability came out of the Watergate scandal (1973), though it is said to go back to CIA jargon of the 1950s.^[4]

Timeline

• 1541 – acceptable, pleasing, popular (obsolete by 1828).^[2][3]
• 1542 – expressing applause (obsolete by 1622).^[2]
• 1561 – praiseworthy (obsolete by 1709).^[2]
• 1565 – of an argument or statement, seeming reasonable or true.^[2][3][4]
• 1577 – of a person, affable, ingratiating (obsolete by 1880).^[2]
• 1596 – plausibility.^[3]
• 1654 – noun, something plausible.^[2][5]
• 1761 – of a person, persuasive, especially deceptively.^[2]
• 1973 – plausible deniability.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Seeming reasonable, true or likely; credible: a plausible reason for being late.^[5][9][2]
2. Seemingly fair or reasonable but actually specious or superficial.^[5][2]
3. Of a person: seeming trustworthy or convincing, often in order to deceive.^[9][2]
4. (obsolete, 1541–1828) Pleasing, acceptable; winning public approval.^[2][7]
5. (obsolete, 1561–1709) Deserving applause; praiseworthy.^[2][7]

Noun

1. Something plausible, such as a statement or argument.^[5][2]

Word family

• plausibility
• plausibly
• plausibleness
• nonplausible
• overplausible
• unplausible
• implausible

Related words

• plaudit
• applaud
• plausive

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.