Laughable means so poor or absurd it invites laughter. A laughable attempt, laughably small, frankly laughable.
It is a criticism and never a compliment — what is laughable is being laughed at rather than being funny, which is the whole distinction from amusing. It is often used of amounts: a laughable offer. Note ridiculous, which does the same work from the Latin.
1adjectivelaughableSo poor or absurd it invites laughter.
“The idea that he could run a marathon without any training is laughable.”
synonyms: ridiculous, risible
laughable is a quality of absurdity.
Middle English
laughen
English
laugh
English, today
laughable
Built from
From laugh + -able. laugh comes from Middle English laughen. From Middle English laughen, laghen, from (Anglian) Old English hlæhhan, hlehhan, (West Saxon) hliehhan, from Proto-West Germanic hlahhjan, from Proto-Germanic hlahjaną. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA