| 释义 |
plausible, a. (n.)|ˈplɔːzɪb(ə)l|
Also 6 -able, -eble, -yble, Sc. plausabill, plawsable, 6–7 plaucible, plawsible.
[ad. L. plausibilis deserving applause, acceptable, f. plaus-, ppl. stem of plaudĕre to applaud: see plaud v. and -ible. Cf. F. plausible (1552).]
A. adj.
†1. Deserving of applause or approval; praiseworthy, laudable, commendable. Obs.
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 216 To me it should not be very laborsom, and yet very plausible to bewray to their great shame those things that thei haue heretofore bosted vpon as mysteries. 1592G. Harvey Four Lett. iii. Wks. (Grosart) I. 185 The plausible examples of..diuers such vertuous Romanes, and sundry excellent Greekes. 1637R. Humfrey tr. St. Ambrose i. 106 Those exercises which they thinke more plausible. 1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) II. iii. ii. 401 Is there a fair and plausible Enthusiasm, a reasonable Extasy and Transport allow'd to other Subjects?
†2.
a. Such as to be received with favour; acceptable, agreeable, pleasing, gratifying; winning public approval, generally acceptable, popular. Obs. (Common in late 16th and 17th c.)
1541Paynel Catiline viii. 13 b, Nothynge was so plausyble to the people as perswasion agaynst the lawe Agraria. 1605Stow Ann. 1426 This change was very plawsible or well pleasing to the Nobility and Gentrye. 1730in Swift's Lett. (1768) IV. 249 Which..you will allow to be a desperate crisis under any party of the most plausible denomination. 1828D'Israeli Chas. I, I. iii. 30 An invective against royal pedantry would always be plausible.
†b. Of persons, or their manners, etc.: Affable, agreeable, ingratiating, winning. Obs. (Cf. 3 b.)
1577–8Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 667 The said souirteis requirit the saidis officiaris with plausabill wordis to desist. 1624Heywood Gunaik. ii. 102 His aspect more plaucible and his countenance more amiable than the former. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts, N.T. 20 The Sonne of Man came in a kinde, affable, and plausible manner. a1704T. Brown Praise of Wealth Wks. 1730 I. 87 A plausible poetaster. 1841Lytton Nt. & Morn. i. ii, Robert, you are a careful, sober, plausible man.
3. a. Having an appearance or show of truth, reasonableness, or worth; apparently acceptable or trustworthy (sometimes with implication of mere appearance); fair-seeming, specious. (Chiefly of arguments or statements.)
1565Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 369 Undir pretence of that plausabill argument to draw eftir thame a large tale of ignorant personis. 1588Ibid. IV. 281 The narrative..hes ane plawsable face to cullour the..pretendit forme thairof. 1682Dryden Medal 111 A Tempting Doctrine, plausible and new. 1711Addison Spect. No. 90 ⁋7 They told me such a plausible Story, that I laughed at their Contrivance. 1838Thirlwall Greece IV. xxxii. 259 According even to the avowed doctrines of Protagoras and Gorgias, no truth could claim any higher value than that of a plausible opinion. 1876Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. ii. 48 Little aided by conjecture, however plausible. 1933Oxf. Eng. Dict. Suppl. 403/2 One of the most plausible suggestions of etymology is F. gâchette. 1952G. Sarton Hist. Science I. xi. 280 If Hippocrates actually wrote the first textbook of geometry, which is not only possible but plausible. 1969Daily Tel. 17 Oct. 16/3 Something seriously missing here—the older actress, perhaps, needed to play this part, and certainly some more plausible explanation of the lady's behaviour. 1976Nature 29 Apr. 813/3 Some ideas which have been suggested to explain this unexpected finding are plausible.
b. Of persons: Characterized by presenting specious arguments, etc.; fair-spoken (with implication of deceit).
1846Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 29 So is it with the Plausible. By dint of strenuously pretending to be good, wise, or zealous, they contract almost the form and pressure of virtue and wisdom. 1860Emerson Cond. Life, Fate Wks. (Bohn) II. 327 A swindler.., then a quack, then a smooth, plausible gentleman. 1875A. R. Hope Schoolboy Friends 221 He was a plausible, cunning kind of fellow.
†4. In active sense: Expressive of applause or approbation; plausive, applausive. Obs.
1542Becon Pathw. Prayer ix. E vj b, Now I wyll haste to declare of what vertue & strength the true and Christen prayer is, yt men..may wt y⊇ more plausible & ioyful mindes delyght in it. 1567[see plaudite 1]. 1600Holland Livy xxxix. l. 881 For a while there was a plausible noise heard among them as they approued his words. 1622C. Fitzgeffrey Elisha 1 A plausible Acclamation, The Chariot of Israel, and the Horse-men thereof.
B. absol. or as n. That which is plausible; a plausible argument or statement.
1654Whitlock Zootomia 162 Having ensnared the silly vulgar, by the dazle of their fame, (in some plausible or other). 1670Moral State Eng. 101 To discourse or argue plausibles. 1831J. S. Mill in Examiner 6 Feb. 83/2, I mean the really profound and philosophic inquirers into history in France and Germany, not the Plausibles, who in our own land of shallowness and charlatanerie, babble about induction without having ever considered what it is. 1833Carlyle Misc., Diderot (1857) III. 226 The plausiblest Plausible on record.
C. Comb., as plausible-looking.
1841Lever C. O'Malley xcv, With a very plausible-looking tray. |