From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishplausibleplau‧si‧ble /ˈplɔːzəbəl $ ˈplɒː-/ ●○○ adjective 1 BELIEVEreasonable and likely to be true or successful OPP implausible His story certainly sounds plausible. a plausible explanation2 TRUEsomeone who is plausible is good at talking in a way that sounds reasonable and truthful, although they may in fact be lying a plausible liar —plausibly adverb —plausibility /ˌplɔːzəˈbɪləti $ ˌplɒː-/ noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
plausible• Where the medium is not continuous on the scale of the measurement being made the assumption is not so plausible.• Although she is pretend-reading and she guesses what the print probably says rather than decoding the print, her story sounds plausible.• In comparison with fabliaux like that, the misbehaviour of the monk and the wife is all too deliberate and plausible.• Langham's story sounded plausible at the time.• But it is quite possible to think of plausible cases.• I need to think of a plausible excuse for not going to the meeting.• The most plausible explanation of this observation is an abrupt, massive, global acidification of rainwater.• Students may well differ in how plausible they find efficient-market theory.• His explanation sounds fairly plausible to me.• In any plausible way of forming Jupiter the hydrogen and helium are initially well mixed at a molecular level.Origin plausible (1500-1600) Latin plausibilis “worth applauding”, from plaudere; → PLAUDITS 