Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to laughter or used in eliciting laughter.
  • adjective Eliciting laughter; ludicrous.
  • adjective Capable of laughing or inclined to laugh.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having the faculty or power of laughing.
  • Laughable; capable of exciting laughter; ridiculous.
  • Of or pertaining to laughter; exerted to produce laughter: as, the risible faculty.
  • Same as risibilities. See risibility, 2.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having the faculty or power of laughing; disposed to laugh.
  • adjective Exciting laughter; worthy to be laughed at; amusing.
  • adjective Used in, or expressing, laughter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to laughter
  • adjective Provoking laughter; ludicrous; ridiculous; humorously insignificant
  • adjective of a person Easily laughing; prone to laughter

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective arousing or provoking laughter

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin rīsibilis, from Latin rīsus, past participle of rīdēre, to laugh.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French risible. from Late Latin rīsibilis, rīsus ("laughter") + -ibilis, from the perfect passive participle of rīdeō ("laugh").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word risible.

Examples

  • The only website representing Welsh Labour on the web that isn't entirely risible is the party's official website, which nevertheless can be criticised for its lack of imagination, innovation and provision for Welsh speakers in comparison to certain other party websites.

    The week that was 2009

  • The only website representing Welsh Labour on the web that isn't entirely risible is the party's official website, which nevertheless can be criticised for its lack of imagination, innovation and provision for Welsh speakers in comparison to certain other party websites.

    Archive 2009-04-01 2009

  • No surprise here; the BBC's agenda against Christianity has long been evident anyone recall the risible Bonekickers, among others?

    THE DHIMMI BROADCASTING CORPORATION 2009

  • (aka risible BNP singing "star" Joey Smith), who is standing for election in Dewsbury on Oct

    WN.com - Articles related to East Sudan parties concede defeat, cry fraud 2010

  • (aka risible BNP singing "star" Joey Smith), who is standing for election in Dewsbury on Oct

    WN.com - Articles related to East Sudan parties concede defeat, cry fraud 2010

  • Good on Stringer for calling the anti-Casino line suggesting Manchestre hadn't been coming up withe other regeneration ideas 'risible'.

    A Bore Draw at PMQs 2007

  • _I answer that, _ What belongs to one cannot be said of another, unless they are both the same; thus "risible" can be predicated only of man.

    Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition Aquinas Thomas

  • Brendan Gormley, chief executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee, said the claim that aid agencies had lost their humanitarianism ethos was "risible".

    Palestine Blogs aggregator 2010

  • Many, many critics have written on the unconscious homoeroticism of Hopkins's poetry; my review referred to only one, Helen Vendler, and it was from Vendler that I borrowed the word "risible," which she uses in her discussion in The Breaking of Style (1995) of "The Bugler's First Communion"; in this poem, she observes, "metaphor takes on such unconscious sexual analogy that a psychoanalytic reading finds it almost risible (the bugler boy 'to all I teach/Yields ténder as a púshed péach')."

    'The Poet & the Wreck': An Exchange Ford, Mark 2009

  • Sarah, although my own disagreement with Dr. Seitz is evident in the thread above, I will say that your accusation that Dr. Seitz is acting in other than good faith is unfair (perhaps, to use his rejoinder to me - "risible"). orthodox dioceses in the US, and that is a commendable thing. orthodox need to deal with, and the sooner the better, is the co-ordination of ministry - or at least, not allowing our ministries to cancel each other.

    Stand Firm 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "I think guys who take Cialis are risible", said Tom woodenly.

    December 12, 2007