Passable

//ˈpæsəbəl// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    That may be passed or traversed.
  2. 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."

  3. 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."

Adjective
  1. 1
    able to be passed or traversed or crossed wordnet
  2. 2
    about average; acceptable wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
fair to middlingnavigablenegotiabletraversableacceptableaccessible

Example

More examples

"It's passable. Nothing out of the ordinary."

Etymology

From French passable, equivalent to pass + -able.

More for "passable"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.