Dictionary

passable en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈpæsəbəl/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From French passable, equivalent to pass + -able.

Meanings

1. That may be passed or traversed.
2. Tolerable; adequate; no more than satisfactory.
   • The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
   • AIs are no longer just producing passable five-paragraph essays. Now they’re excelling at the SAT, “earning” a score of 1410. 2023 March 21, Ian Bogost, “Is This the Singularity for Standardized Tests?”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2023:
3. 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.
   • The idea of something, or someone, being unusual and sexual is intoxicating. I concluded that if I ever met a very passable transsexual and we were attracted to one another, I'd go bisexual and pursue the relationship. 2014, Paul Stryker, Confessions of a Sex Offender, page 33:

Forms

Deriveds

passability · passableness · unpassable · passably

Synonyms

satisfactory (adequate)

Translations (28)

hu elfogadható (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · gl pasadeiro (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · is sæmilegur (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · el μέτριος (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · it passabile (That may be passed or traversed) · pt passável (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · nn farbar (That may be passed or traversed) · bg сносен (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · es pasable (That may be passed or traversed) · fi kulkukelpoinen (That may be passed or traversed) · el διαβατός (That may be passed or traversed) · ca transitable (That may be passed or traversed) · es pasadero (That may be passed or traversed) · ca passable (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · fi välttävä (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · bg проходим (That may be passed or traversed) · pl przekraczalny (That may be passed or traversed) · gd cuibheasach (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · pt passável (able to be accepted as a member of a race, sex or other group) · is slarkfær (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · grc βάσιμος (That may be passed or traversed) · el υποφερτός (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · de passabel (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · pt aceitável (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · es pasadero (Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate) · la pervius (That may be passed or traversed) · nb farbar (That may be passed or traversed) · de passierbar (That may be passed or traversed)