Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Capable of being passed, traversed, or crossed; navigable.
  • adjective Acceptable for general circulation.
  • adjective Satisfactory but not outstanding; adequate.
  • adjective Capable of being enacted.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Capable of being passed, traveled, navigated, traversed, penetrated, or the like: as, the roads are not passable; the stream is passable in boats.
  • That may be passed from hand to hand as a thing of value; current; receivable: as, bills passable in lieu of coin.
  • Such as may be allowed to pass; allowable; admissible; tolerable; reaching or just rising above mediocrity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being passed, traveled, navigated, traversed, penetrated, or the like
  • adjective Capable of being freely circulated or disseminated; acceptable; generally receivable; current.
  • adjective Such as may be accepted or allowed to pass without serious objection; adequate; acceptable; tolerable; admissable; moderate; mediocre.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective That may be passed or traversed.
  • adjective Tolerable; satisfactory; adequate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective able to be passed or traversed or crossed
  • adjective about average; acceptable

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French passable

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Examples

  • (END VIDEOTAPE) MOOS: Now, since everyone is always being asked to create new passwords, we thought we would come up with a list of what we called passable tips for creating new passwords.

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2002 2002

  • No, it's located interally, as she just tries to crank out something passable from the larynx.

    The revenge of the voice 2009

  • No, it's located interally, as she just tries to crank out something passable from the larynx.

    fourfour: 2009

  • "No, thank you;" the senior lieutenant, in passable English, declined the invitation to enter.

    WHOSE BUSINESS IS TO LIVE 2010

  • I have yet to hear any acts of contrition from the media or people like Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, who i held in passable esteem for what they said and why they said it.

    Mind The Gap « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2008

  • But, amazingly, it was passable from the second to fifth floors.

    USATODAY.com - Miracles emerge from debris 2002

  • We weren't sure what we were waiting for until a nice looking Mexican man returned and asked in passable English, "May I help you?"

    Mexico: a visit to Sayula, Zapotlanejo and Zapopan 1999

  • We weren't sure what we were waiting for until a nice looking Mexican man returned and asked in passable English, "May I help you?"

    Mexico: a visit to Sayula, Zapotlanejo and Zapopan 1999

  • If, however, you have the good fortune to be able to decline the suggestion in passable French, you will so warm the old gentleman's heart that he will take you into his house and he will give you a cigar from the secret box that he keeps for the Bishop and other distinguished visitors.

    Quebec 1940

  • "No, thank you;" the senior lieutenant, in passable English, declined the invitation to enter.

    Whose Business Is To Live 1922

Comments

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  • Spelling bee, sixth grade. Just me and one other person dueling it out. He gets "cookware." I get "passable" - and spell it p-a-s-s-I-b-l-e. "Passable" is my least favorite word because it's haunted me for years in its silvery gleam.

    The silver, if you haven't caught on, signifies my being runner-up in the spelling bee, something I cannot stand for some nine years later.

    October 21, 2007

  • You've got to look at the bright side logophile, nobody ever had their life ruined because they were only a passibly good speller.

    October 21, 2007

  • I've always loved the term passable fair from my childhood in the South, as in:

    "How did you like the tractor pull?"

    "Oh, it was passable fair."

    October 21, 2007

  • I feel your pain, logophile--I had a similar experience as a kid. Just wasn't thinking.

    But now we've discovered Wordie, and all is well. :-)

    October 22, 2007

  • See my similar experience at linguistical deafblindness. At least you got to duel it out; I fouled up the first word they gave me. ;-)

    October 23, 2007