definable


Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms, Wikipedia.
Related to definable: indefinable

de·fine

 (dĭ-fīn′)
v. de·fined, de·fin·ing, de·fines
v.tr.
1.
a. To state the precise meaning of (a word or sense of a word, for example).
b. To describe the nature or basic qualities of; explain: define the properties of a new drug; a study that defines people according to their median incomes.
2.
a. To make clear the outline or form of; delineate: gentle hills that were defined against the sky.
b. To specify distinctly: define the weapons to be used in limited warfare.
3. To give form or meaning to: "For him, a life is defined by action" (Jay Parini).
v.intr.
To make or write a definition.

[Middle English definen, diffinen, from Old French definir, diffiner, from Latin dēfīnīre, to limit, determine : dē-, intensive pref.; see de- + fīnis, boundary, limit.]

de·fin′a·bil′i·ty n.
de·fin′a·ble adj.
de·fin′a·bly adv.
de·fine′ment n.
de·fin′er n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.definable - capable of being defined, limited, or explained; "definable terms"; "definable rules"
determinable - capable of being determined or limited or fixed; "determinable velocities"; "matters determinable by law"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

definable

adjective specific, apparent, definite, perceptible, explicable, determinable, describable groups broadly definable as conservative
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
مُمْكِن تُحْديدُهُ
definovatelný
definerbar
meghatározható
skilgreinanlegur
definovateľný
tanımlanabilir

definable

[dɪˈfaɪnəbl] ADJdefinible
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

definable

[dɪˈfaɪnəbəl] adjdéfinissable
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

definable

adjdefinierbar; conditions, boundaries, duties etcbestimmbar
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

definable

[dɪˈfaɪnəbl] adjdefinibile, precisabile
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

define

(diˈfain) verb
to fix or state the exact meaning of. Words are defined in a dictionary.
deˈfinable adjective
definition (defiˈniʃən) noun
an explanation of the exact meaning of a word or phrase. Is that definition accurate?
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
The play and slight agitation of the water, in its upward gush, wrought magically with these variegated pebbles, and made a continually shifting apparition of quaint figures, vanishing too suddenly to be definable. Thence, swelling over the rim of moss-grown stones, the water stole away under the fence, through what we regret to call a gutter, rather than a channel.
That Space, as our mathematicians have it, is spoken of as having three dimensions, which one may call Length, Breadth, and Thickness, and is always definable by reference to three planes, each at right angles to the others.
With a feeling of terror not very definable, she fixed her eyes on the staircase, and in a few moments it gave Henry to her view.
One was of a beautiful woman and the other might have been a likeness of the man who sat beside her, except for a subtle difference of expression that was scarcely definable.
Systematists will have only to decide (not that this will be easy) whether any form be sufficiently constant and distinct from other forms, to be capable of definition; and if definable, whether the differences be sufficiently important to deserve a specific name.
Uniting the genuineness of the popular ballad with the finer sense of conscious artistic poetry, these poems possess a charm different, though in an only half definable way, from that of any other lyrics.
The shock of such an event happening so suddenly, and happening to one with whom I had been in any respect at variance - the appalling vacancy in the room he had occupied so lately, where his chair and table seemed to wait for him, and his handwriting of yesterday was like a ghost - the in- definable impossibility of separating him from the place, and feeling, when the door opened, as if he might come in - the lazy hush and rest there was in the office, and the insatiable relish with which our people talked about it, and other people came in and out all day, and gorged themselves with the subject - this is easily intelligible to anyone.
And there were other sensations, less definable but more exquisite, which drew them together with a shock of silent joy: the cold red of sunset behind winter hills, the flight of cloud-flocks over slopes of golden stubble, or the intensely blue shadows of hemlocks on sunlit snow.
Peacock on a similar occasion had administered a series of boluses which were not otherwise definable than by their remarkable effect in bringing Mrs.
I do not like to distinguish them by means of such notions as "consciousness" or "will," because I do not think these notions, in any definable sense, are always applicable.
For the rest, he was large and tall in frame, had thin lips, where his thick moustache showed them at all, and a quantity of dry hair, of no definable colour, in its shaggy state, but shot with red.
But it may have been put on, for the whole personality was not clearly definable. I, however, was not indifferent.