risible

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Definitions (9)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

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

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples

  • Nay, it is a well-known fact, which I can testify from my own experience, that on a clear still summer evening, you may hear, from the Battery of New York, the obstreperous peals of broad-mouthed laughter of the Dutch negroes at Communipaw, who, like most other negroes, are famous for their risible powers. —  Washington Irving
  • I believe there was not a person that heard him, the sufferer himself excepted, who did not feel every risible nerve affected. —  Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry
  • There was something almost risible in the thought of the two of them pedalling away down the lane to interview a murder suspect. —  The Lighthouse
  • It is true, they laugh much, have great gesticulation, and are extravagantly fond of dancing: but the laugh is the effect of habit, and not of a risible sensation; the gesture is not the agitation of the mind operating upon the body, but constitutional volatility; and their love of dancing is merely the effect of a happy climate, (which, though mild, does not enervate,) and that love of action which usually accompanies mental vacancy, when it is not counteracted by heat, or other physical causes. —  A Residence in France During the Years 1792 1793 1794 and 1795
  • You find that risible, yes? —  Sharpe's Prey
 

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Risible has been looked up 578 times, favorited once, listed 60 times, and commented on once.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

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

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Old French (and F.) risible = Spanish risible = Portuguese risivel = Italian risibile, laughable, from Late Latin risibilis, that can laugh, from Latin ridere, past participle risus, laugh: see rident, ridicule.
 

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/ˈrɪzɪbl/
by American Heritage

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