laughable
Americanadjective
adjective
-
producing scorn; ludicrous
he offered me a laughable sum for the picture
-
arousing laughter
Synonym Usage
See funny 1.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of laughable
Explanation
If something is so absurd or ridiculous that it makes you laugh, you can call it laughable. Your little sister's idea of dropping out of elementary school and starting a full-time lemonade stand might seem laughable to you. Your friend's preposterous plan to live in a tree all summer is laughable, and a politician's proposal to build a wall around the entire country to keep immigrants out is laughable too. You can also use this adjective to simply mean "funny," or "provoking laughter." Laughable comes from laugh, which has an Old English root and was originally pronounced with a hard g sound. The pronunciation changed, but the spelling stayed the same.
Vocabulary lists containing laughable
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 5
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-able
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The Egypt Game
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When she published her second cookbook, “It’s All Good,” in 2013, The Atlantic called it the “Bible of Laughable Hollywood Neuroticism” and said she “had gone over the edge.”
From Salon • Aug. 23, 2025
Laughable describes just about everything anymore, except there's nothing funny.
From New York Times • Dec. 1, 2017
Laughable though it seems after scoring a record-equalling 31 Premier League goals last season, 30 in total the year before, but there were reservations over the Uruguayan’s finishing before Rodgers took charge.
From The Guardian • Jul. 11, 2014
Laughable that people are calling for Hodgson to resign.
From BBC • Jun. 24, 2014
Laughable, verily, is my folly and my modesty in love!—
From Thus Spake Zarathustra A book for all and none by Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
