laughable
Americanadjective
adjective
-
producing scorn; ludicrous
he offered me a laughable sum for the picture
-
arousing laughter
Related Words
See funny 1.
Other Word Forms
- laughableness noun
- laughably adverb
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.
"It's laughable that for almost two months, the entire security apparatus of Uganda has invested billions of taxpayers' money to search for me everywhere, but they failed to get me," he continued.
From Barron's • Mar. 14, 2026
Dismissed from USC for disciplinary reasons, Mazara makes the “student athlete” moniker laughable.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2026
To anyone who knows Mr. Lai, this is laughable.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
Blanche called the suggestion that the photo was removed due to Trump "laughable".
From BBC • Dec. 21, 2025
The negative column filled up fastest with words like stupid, disgraceful, foolish, laughable, wasteful, outraged, idiotic, scandalous, uninformed, half-baked, shamefully.
From "The Landry News" by Andrew Clements
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.
