RISIBLE

amusing, comic, comical, funny, laughable, mirthful, risible

(adjective) arousing or provoking laughter; “an amusing film with a steady stream of pranks and pratfalls”; “an amusing fellow”; “a comic hat”; “a comical look of surprise”; “funny stories that made everybody laugh”; “a very funny writer”; “it would have been laughable if it hadn’t hurt so much”; “a mirthful experience”; “risible courtroom antics”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

risible (comparative more risible, superlative most risible)

Of or pertaining to laughter

Provoking laughter; ludicrous; ridiculous; humorously insignificant

(of a person) Easily laughing; prone to laughter

Synonyms

• (provoking laughter): funny, laughable, ludicrous

Anagrams

• birlies

Source: Wiktionary


Ris"i*ble, a. Etym: [F., fr. L. risibilis, fr. ridere, risum, to laugh. Cf. Ridiculous.]

1. Having the faculty or power of laughing; disposed to laugh. Laughing is our busines, . . . it has been made the definition of man that he is risible. Dr. H. More.

2. Exciting laughter; worthy to be laughed at; amusing. "Risible absurdities." Johnson. I hope you find nothing risible in my complaisance. Sir W. Scott.

3. Used in, or expressing, laughter; as, risible muscles.

Note: Risible is sometimes used as a noun, in the plural, for the feeling of amusement and for the muscles and other organs used in laughing, collectively; as, unable to control one's risibles.

Syn.

– Ludicrous; laughable; amusing; ridiculous -- Risible, Ludicrous, Ridiculous. Risible differs from ludicrous as species from genus; ludicrous expressing that which is playful and sportive; risible, that which may excite laughter. Risible differs from ridiculous, as the latter implies something contemptuous, and risible does not.

--Ris"i*ble*ness(#), n.

– Ris"i*bly, adv.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

3 April 2025

WHOLE

(noun) an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity; “how big is that part compared to the whole?”; “the team is a unit”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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