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Merriam-Webster's WOTD (Word of the Day) Is Risible

May 4, 2025 09:49 AM EDT, Sun

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Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for May 4 is “risible”:

What It Means

Risible is a formal word used disapprovingly to describe things that deserve to be mocked or laughed at because they are absurd or unreasonable.

// Although the teachers derided the students’ slang as risible nonsense, the same had been said about their own generation’s lingo.

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Examples

“Smartwatches and smartphones are banned in my children’s schools during the school day, which I’m very happy about; I find any argument for allowing these devices in the classroom to be risible.” — Jessica Grose, The New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024

Did you know?

Say “cheese”! Now say thank you to the risorius muscles near the corners of your mouth for helping you smile. You might find this exercise a bit ridiculous—risible, even—but we’re here to explain that there is no need for derision; it’s for a wordy reason. Risible, ridiculous, derision, and risorius all come from the Latin verb ridēre, meaning “to laugh.” This etymology helps make the meaning of risible clear; something is described as risible (such as saying “cheese” out loud to yourself while looking at your phone/computer) when it arouses or provokes laughter. But just as its synonym laughable often describes things deserving not just of laughter but of eye-rolling scorn, risible is frequently applied to that which merits both sneer and chortle, scoff and guffaw. Words are funny like that.

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