colourable

/ ˈkʌlərəbəl /

adjective

1. capable of being coloured
2. appearing to be true; plausible

   a colourable excuse

3. pretended; feigned

   colourable affection

Derived Forms

• ˌcolouraˈbility, noun
• ˈcolourably, adverb

Example Sentences

There may be “colourable arguments both ways”, he wrote, but “these are matters for Congress, not this court, to resolve.”

From Economist

For the purposes of this Act a work shall be deemed to be first published in Canada, notwithstanding that it has been published simultaneously in some other country, unless the publication in Canada is colourable only and is not intended to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the public, and a work shall be deemed to be published simultaneously in two countries if the time between the publication in one such country and the publication in the other country does not exceed fourteen days.

From Project Gutenberg

It may be a lie pure and simple, or a colourable counterfeit of some quite innocent truth.

From Project Gutenberg

He had a colourable claim to an income double that which was given him by the King; the King had ampler means of paying it than had been possessed by George I.; and the Prince had nothing to hope from the unconstrained bounty of his father; he was indeed under his father's ban.

From Project Gutenberg

This excellent friend, as he was later on to become, with his handsome high head, large colourable brow and eyes widely divided—brave contribution ever to a fine countenance—sat there in a sort of glory of experience which, had he been capable of anything so akin to a demonstration, he would have appeared all unsociably to repudiate.

From Project Gutenberg