risible

adj.

1. Relating to laughter or used in eliciting laughter.
2. Eliciting laughter; ludicrous.
3. Capable of laughing or inclined to laugh.

[Late Latin rīsibilis, from Latin rīsus, past participle of rīdēre, to laugh.]

risibly ris'i·bly adv.

Two uses of the word risible had Answers.com users reaching for their alts and their clicks. One was a New York Times movie review of Dark Water, which called it:

"A dull and occasionally risible remake of an even duller, more risible Japanese horror flick"

Link: A Noisy Upstairs Neighbor Is Just the Beginning of a Rental Nightmare

and in the other, Ann Coulter pokes fun at the name of a Supreme Court case while taking aim at Sandra Day O'Connors' judicial record:

"Thus, in the recent sodomy case Lawrence v. Texas, which overruled an earlier case that had found no constitutional right to sodomy (risibly titled Bowers v. Hardwick), O'Connor specifically cited criticism of Bowers as a reason to overrule it."

Link: Welcome to AnnCoulter.com

Posted July 11, 2005.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

adjective

1. Arousing laughter: amusing, comic, comical, droll, funny, humorous, laughable, zany. See laughter.
2. Deserving laughter: comic, comical, farcical, funny, laughable, laughing, ludicrous, ridiculous. See laughter.

adj

Definition: laughable
Antonyms: serious

---

capable of or disposed to laughing; provoking laughter: funny; associated with laughter

IN BRIEF: Capable of exciting laughter.

The students were attentive at the lectures of the risible professor.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - latterlig, lattermild

Nederlands (Dutch)
lachwekkend, lacherig

Français (French)
adj. - ridicule (sout)

Deutsch (German)
adj. - lächerlich

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - γελοίος

Italiano (Italian)
ridicolo

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - cômico, ridículo

Русский (Russian)
смешливый, смешной

Español (Spanish)
adj. - risible, hilarante

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - skrattretande, skratt-, lustig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
能笑的, 爱笑的, 善笑的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 能笑的, 愛笑的, 善笑的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 웃을 수 있는, 잘 웃는, 웃음의

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 笑える, 笑いたがる, 笑わせる, 滑稽な
n. - ユーモアの感覚

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) ضحوك, مضحك‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של צחוק, מצחיק‬

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