habitable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of habitable
1350–1400; Middle English habitābilis, equivalent to habitā ( re ) to inhabit ( see habitat) + -bilis -ble; replacing Middle English abitable < Middle French
Explanation
Something habitable is appropriate to live in. If you're having the wood floors of your house refinished, it might not be habitable until they've completely dried. Earth is a habitable planet: Mars isn't. In other words, humans can live comfortably on Earth, since its atmosphere has air we can breathe and temperatures we can tolerate. While many of us live in perfectly habitable homes and cities, there are also people whose living situations wouldn't be considered habitable by most of us. In Old French, habitable means "suitable for human dwelling," from the Latin habitare, "to inhabit."
Vocabulary lists containing habitable
Canada - Introductory
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Canada - Middle School and High School
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Farewell to Manzanar
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Informed website is a project of the US non-profit Habitable.
From BBC • Mar. 16, 2026
As NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory moves closer to launch, discoveries like this provide essential insight into the environments astronomers will face.
From Science Daily • Dec. 17, 2025
He also previewed NASA’s next big act: a 12-meter space telescope called the Habitable Worlds Observatory that would seek out planets and study them.
From New York Times • Dec. 27, 2022
Habitable zones refer to areas where celestial bodies with geology and atmospheric conditions similar to Earth are capable of keeping water liquid for billions of years.
From Washington Times • Sep. 8, 2022
In a small book published in the latter part of 1907, and entitled Is Mars Habitable?
From Astronomy of To-day A Popular Introduction in Non-Technical Language by Dolmage, Cecil Goodrich Julius
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
