What's the difference between ridiculous and risible?

Ridiculous


Definition:

  • (a.) Fitted to excite ridicule; absurd and laughable; unworthy of serious consideration; as, a ridiculous dress or behavior.
  • (a.) Involving or expressing ridicule.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Historically, what made SNL’s campaign coverage so necessary was its ability to highlight the subtle absurdities of the election and exaggerate the ridiculous.
  • (2) It is ridiculous,' says Li Rui, a former secretary of Mao Zedong.
  • (3) No doubt it was intended as a bold and graphic way of presenting the Iranian nuclear threat, but much of the initial response – on Twitter, at least – was ridicule.
  • (4) "It would be ridiculous to encourage shale gas when in reality its greenhouse gas footprint could be as bad as or worse than coal.
  • (5) He says he won't respond to the latest ridiculous rumor of Republican action.
  • (6) At the 2nd stage, as the self-esteem lowered and negative attitude of other schoolchildren arose, the neurotic disorders emerged alongside with prevalent depressive reactions and fear of getting bad marks and being an object of ridicule at school.
  • (7) Once I’d checked she was OK I said, ‘Stop crying now.’ ” So it’s about managing emotions: ‘I’m going to need you to get a grip.’” “If you’ve got interesting points to make about the devaluing of serious words like bullying and depression, why make them in a way that sounds like you’re ridiculing people who are suffering?” I ask.
  • (8) Walden said the comparison with Comet was “ridiculous”.
  • (9) Well, Machado put those skills on display on Sunday, and this is an excuse to bring you his ridiculous play against the Yankees.
  • (10) Alamgir was ridiculed on social media after he told the BBC that the building may have collapsed after opposition activists enforcing a general strike "pushed at the gate and columns of the building".
  • (11) "The ANC pretence that we don't have a social crisis in this country is quite ridiculous.
  • (12) So we started asking them ridiculous questions about being single," says Lucas, "and the sheer number of misunderstandings about each other's lives felt like comedic material."
  • (13) "Rio Ferdinand's decision-making, the chances he has taken, it is ridiculous.
  • (14) It's ridiculous, because there will soon be a massive public outcry about how there's nowhere for kids to go.
  • (15) Westminster wits had taken to ridiculing the rebel movement against Gordon Brown as a "peasants' revolt", a cohort without influence.
  • (16) To create a new bank, which we understand is an option, which could be called Glyn Mills, is ridiculously back to the future.
  • (17) JD, Oxford More than three months to get a replacement debit card is ridiculous, and we agree that you have been more than patient.
  • (18) The Kiev-appointed governor, Serhiy Taruta, has dismissed this poll as ridiculous, pointing out that most of the region's 2.4 million voters won't take part.
  • (19) Liberal Democrats and Conservatives today ridiculed a request by Labour to broadcasters to focus more on policy analysis.
  • (20) Edge: Cardinals Bench Shane Robinson made a name for himself in Game Four of the NLCS with a pinch-hit home run and actually finished the NLCS with an OPS of 1.278, which is completely ridiculous and tops any of his teammates by a country mile.

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.