Etymologically
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plausible

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈplɔː.zɪ.bl̩/, /ˈplɔː.zə.bl̩/[1]
  • US: /ˈplɑ.zɪ.bəl/[1]

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
  • 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.