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Glite Dictionary
laughably

laughably

7 5.5
So silly or weak that people laugh at it
  • adverb
  • /ˈlæfəbli/
translation icon : ridículamente
  • Charlotte believed I was laughably careful about hiding our relationship from the administration.
  • laughably easy
  • laughably inadequate
  • laughably bad

This is a very laughably stupid case by Jack Smith.

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Examples

  • But Mr. Lyons was completely out of his depth; some of his reviews were just laughably ignorant.

    Blog text (9)

  • On the other hand, every word out of Rick Yune's mouth fell totally and laughably flat.

    Blog text (22)

  • His great plan, hatched in the secret hours, is laughably impossible.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • When it came to him, after two weeks of trying, discarding, and trying again, it was almost laughably simple.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Current ideas about what is 'true' in medicine have a very short history and may well appear laughably wrong in the future.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Although they are complex and difficult, there is, I think, nothing either laughably inadequate or hypothetical about them.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The villain, the laughably named Nick Necro, is a lightweight if ever there was one.

    Blog text (9)

  • House of Gucci just didn't showcase her strongest moments and it was kind of laughably bad at times.

    Film Courage

  • There was something laughably elegant about it all, decaying and sinking in the mud as they drank from heirloom Limoges.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • The comedian's jokes were laughably absurd, making the audience roar with laughter.

Synonyms

ridiculously
vslaughably
72 3.7

In a way that is much too extreme or silly

is less about intensity and more about being inadequate or absurd
ludicrously
vslaughably
5 7.0

So silly or extreme that it makes people laugh

is milder, stressing inadequacy as the reason for laughter
preposterously
vslaughably
3 8.1

Very silly or unreasonable in a way that seems laughable

is about absurd inadequacy but not always so intensely silly
risibly
vslaughably
  • Formal
8.5

In a way that makes people laugh because it is silly

focuses on clear absurdity or inadequacy that causes laughter

Antonyms

seriously
∞ 1.6

In a way that shows you mean what you say

How Ridiculous

absurdly
23 5.0
laughably
7 5.5
amusingly
5 3.0

Surface Forms

laughably positive
laughablyer comparative
laughablyest superlative

Morphology

laughably = laughable (transparent) = laugh + able + ly

The adverb is a regular -ly derivation from the adjective 'laughable'; the adjective itself is transparently formed from 'laugh' + '-able'.

Etymology

Laughably comes from the simple word laugh plus the endings -able and -ly. So it means 'able to make you laugh', which is why we call something laughably silly or so inadequate that it makes people laugh.