risible Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite arousing or provoking laughter
    funny; mirthful; amusing; laughable; comic; comical.
    • 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

WordNet

Ris"i*ble adjective
Etymology
F., fr. L. risibilis, fr. ridere, risum, to laugh. Cf. Ridiculous.
Definitions
  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. ✍ 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.

Webster 1913