What's the difference between laughable and risible?

Laughable


Definition:

  • (a.) Fitted to excite laughter; as, a laughable story; a laughable scene.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But yesterday the Tories said the move was laughable as the number of quangos had risen dramatically since Labour came to power in 1997, despite a promise by Gordon Brown in opposition of a "bonfire of the quangos".
  • (2) The finishing today as been laughable from both sides.
  • (3) The idea of having a nice glass of milk and a bath to help me sleep would be laughable.
  • (4) Yet, there is no doubt that All Star has been targeted for its specific qualities – the main ones being its feelgood nostalgia value and a laughably exuberant pop-punk style that feels totally earnest.
  • (5) After referring to Salmond's previous role as a horse racing tipster for the News of the World when Brooks was editor, Gray said: "SNP claims that these meetings were to promote Scotland are laughable as it is clear they were all about promoting Alex Salmond and the SNP."
  • (6) Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible.
  • (7) The renewed debate on the nation’s constitutional future has led to some laughable abjurations from both sides.
  • (8) As for Hillary Clinton's intervention , suggesting in effect that Britain take lessons in value for money from the Pentagon, it is laughable.
  • (9) For those filling the streets of Moqattam, or the hundreds recreating the Harlem Shake in the same place last month, or the thousands who embarked on a campaign of civil disobedience in Port Said, the idea is laughable.
  • (10) The idea that New Labour or Blairism is or was social democratic is laughable.
  • (11) He says the BBC director general Mark Thompson's budget cuts "have cut flesh as well as fat" from BBC Radio, which he says is "laughably underfunded".
  • (12) Claudio Ranieri Leicester City manager A year ago his candidacy would have felt laughable given he had just lost to the Faroe Islands during a four-game spell with Greece.
  • (13) North Korea has demanded the US recognise it as a “legitimate nuclear weapons state” following its fifth and largest atomic test, adding that threats of further sanctions against the country were “laughable”.
  • (14) The case – and the laughable lack of scientific evidence for their claims – has been covered by every newspaper in the country.
  • (15) Such talk would have been laughable in the days when the US capital was dominated by one trade – politics – plagued by crime, and bitterly divided by class and race.
  • (16) But those who find Europe laughable, they must be countered, because Europe is not a lightweight.
  • (17) He told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that he was "extremely proud" of his inclusion on the list, adding that the sanctions were laughable.
  • (18) "It's absolutely laughable," said a senior government source.
  • (19) And Comey’s call for “clarity and transparency” surrounding the surveillance process wouldn’t be so laughable if the FBI wasn’t aggressively trying to hide it’s all surveillance capabilities from the public, making law enforcement sign non-disclosure agreements as they hand out invasive new spying technology, and refusing to even tell count how many times they’ve searched through the NSA’s massive databases for Americans without a warrant.
  • (20) "Within the context of record graduate unemployment and student debt, it seems laughable that university leaders are hoping for higher fees and pressing for cuts in student support."

Risible


Definition:

  • (a.) Having the faculty or power of laughing; disposed to laugh.
  • (a.) Exciting laughter; worthy to be laughed at; amusing.
  • (a.) Used in, or expressing, laughter; as, risible muscles.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It is all too easy to show that RT’s coverage is rife with conspiracy theories and risible fabrications: one programme showed fake documents intended to prove that the US was guiding the Ukrainian government to ethnically cleanse Russian speakers from western Ukraine.
  • (2) "For the most part the rewards for acquiescing to GOC demands are risible: pomp-full dinners and meetings and, for the most pliant, a photo op with one of the Castro brothers.
  • (3) They are meant to keep the blood of the masses at a risible level, should they be called upon for serviceable violence.
  • (4) Even when it summons up the courage to state the bleeding obvious, such as the fact that the Quill, a risible block of student housing next to the Shard, is poorly designed, Cabe is ignored.
  • (5) Mulholland said the idea that Megrahi had acted alone was "risible", and said "justice has only partly been done".
  • (6) Long before they tucked into the starters there was something whiffy about the relationship between No 10 and News International: why did the prime minister stand by his PR man long after most sentient people had concluded that his denials of involvement in phone-hacking were risible?
  • (7) Shadow justice secretary, Lord Falconer, described the £10m cash injection as a “risibly small” response to the prisons crisis.
  • (8) In the face of the scale of the prison crisis the £10m looks risibly small.
  • (9) The incidental pleasures in Fading Gigolo start with its sweet and slightly risible premise: John Turturro – a florist named Fioravante – has the sexual magic touch for the lonely, libidinous matrons of the One Percent.
  • (10) The idea of a social mobility drive , contingent as it is on the supposition that parents need convincing that their children should have a better life than they themselves received, may seem risible – but let's suspend disbelief.
  • (11) He said: “Those elements are risible and in many ways pathetic.
  • (12) 36 min: Korea have got a foothold in this game now, attacking strongly down either flank - Lee Young-pyo goes on a long meander here - but time and again the final ball is utterly risible.
  • (13) The following day, Dimbleby was interested to see how Griffin's party had reportedly turned on their leader for giving a risible account of himself.
  • (14) A source from the Department for Education (DfE) used even stronger language, describing the review as "risible", but a source at the council accused the government of "social worker bashing".
  • (15) Sky seems to have devoted a whole channel to them.” He leaves no doubt that this is a risible state of affairs.
  • (16) "Megrahi was a member of the Libyan security service – it is risible to think that he acted alone.
  • (17) Any idea that they want a life on benefits is risible when all they want is a decent job and a future."
  • (18) 2.00pm GMT Deadline day, the action so far ... • David Beckham is en route to PSG for a medical • Mario Balotelli has finalised his move to AC Milan • Swansea striker Danny Graham is at Sunderland to discuss personal terms and do a medical • Norwich City have tabled a bid for Celtic striker Gary Hooper • Newcastle owner Mike Ashley arrived at work in a helicopter • Chris Samba has joined QPR for £12.5m and will be paid the risibly small sum of £100,000 per week.
  • (19) Worse still, it concluded, if Europe failed to surmount its economic crisis the prize would be a “risible memory, or worse, an epitaph for what Europe could have been, should have been.” 11.33am BST Aid donations My colleague Mark Tran, the Guardian's Global Development correspondent, has sent this as a counterpoint to the detractors: Something positive to say about the EU.
  • (20) The RA’s search for echoes of Rubens even when they are very tenuous becomes quite risible.