Search Result for "plausible": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (2)

1. apparently reasonable and valid, and truthful;
- Example: "a plausible excuse"

2. given to or characterized by presenting specious arguments;
- Example: "a plausible liar"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Plausible \Plau"si*ble\, a. [L. plausibilis praiseworthy, from plaudere, plausum, to applaud, clap the hands, strike, beat.] 1. Worthy of being applauded; praiseworthy; commendable; ready. [Obs.] --Bp. Hacket. [1913 Webster] 2. Obtaining approbation; specifically pleasing; apparently right; specious; as, a plausible pretext; plausible manners; a plausible delusion. "Plausible and popular arguments." --Clarendon. [1913 Webster] 3. Using specious arguments or discourse; as, a plausible speaker. [1913 Webster] [1913 Webster] Syn: Plausible, Specious. Usage: Plausible denotes that which seems reasonable, yet leaves distrust in the judgment. Specious describes that which presents a fair appearance to the view and yet covers something false. Specious refers more definitely to the act or purpose of false representation; plausible has more reference to the effect on the beholder or hearer. An argument may by specious when it is not plausible because its sophistry is so easily discovered. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

plausible adj 1: apparently reasonable and valid, and truthful; "a plausible excuse" [ant: implausible] 2: given to or characterized by presenting specious arguments; "a plausible liar"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

67 Moby Thesaurus words for "plausible": acceptable, admissible, apparent, apparently sound, believable, casuistic, cogent, cogitable, colorable, colored, conceivable, conceivably possible, contingent, credible, creditable, deceitful, deceptive, disingenuous, empty, fallacious, fiduciary, gilded, hollow, humanly possible, illusive, imaginable, insincere, jesuitic, just, justifiable, legitimate, likely, logical, meretricious, misleading, ostensible, overrefined, oversubtle, philosophistic, possible, potential, presentable, probable, rational, reasonable, reliable, sane, seeming, sensible, smooth, sophistic, sophistical, sound, specious, tenable, thinkable, tinsel, trustworthy, trusty, unexceptionable, unimpeachable, unquestionable, well-argued, well-founded, well-grounded, wholesome, worthy of faith