PASSABLE

passable

(adjective) able to be passed or traversed or crossed; “the road is passable”

adequate, passable, fair to middling, tolerable

(adjective) about average; acceptable; “more than adequate as a secretary”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Adjective

passable (comparative more passable, superlative most passable)

That may be passed or traversed.

Tolerable; adequate; no more than satisfactory.

(sociology) able to "pass", or be accepted as a member of a race, sex or other group to which society would not otherwise regard one as belonging.

Source: Wiktionary


Pass"a*ble, a. Etym: [Cf. F. passable.]

1. Capable of being passed, traveled, navigated, traversed, penetrated, or the like; as, the roads are not passable; the stream is passablein boats. His body's a passable carcass if it be not hurt; it is a throughfare for steel. Shak.

2. Capable of being freely circulated or disseminated; acceptable; generally receivable; current. With men as with false money -- one piece is more or less passable than another. L'Estrange. Could they have made this slander passable. Collier.

3. Such as may be allowed to pass without serious objection; tolerable; admissable; moderate; mediocre. My version will appear a passable beauty when the original muse is absent. Dryden.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

21 April 2025

ENCYCLOPEDIA

(noun) a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty


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Coffee Trivia

The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.

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