mutable
Americanadjective
-
liable or subject to change or alteration.
- Synonyms:
- variable, changeable
-
given to changing; constantly changing; fickle or inconstant.
the mutable ways of fortune.
- Synonyms:
- unsteady, unsettled, vacillating, unstable
- Antonyms:
- stable
-
Computers. (in object-oriented programming) of or noting an object having properties whose values can change while the object itself maintains a unique identity.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mutable
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin mūtābilis, equivalent to mūtā(re) “to change” + -bilis -ble
Explanation
Something or someone that is mutable is subject to change. Mutable weather can go from sunny, to rainy and windy, and back to sunny again. The word mutable originally had a negative connotation, and it referred to a person, usually a poet, who frequently changed his mind and moods. Mutable has come to mean anything that is capable of changing form or quality. If your favorite restaurant offers seasonal food, the menu is probably mutable with the change in seasons. In science, the word mutable refers to an organism or a gene that, for better or worse, changes its form.
Vocabulary lists containing mutable
Power Suffix: -able
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Novel Study: Frankenstein, Chapters 14–24
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-able
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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.
Mutable nationality has a long history at the Olympics and, more generally, in the field of sports.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 14, 2022
A version of this article appears in print on February 11, 2014, on page C1 of the with the headline: A Mutable Feast.
From New York Times • Feb. 10, 2014
His Mutable Typography website showcases his work, which also includes an exhibition and a zine.
From Salon • Jun. 28, 2012
Mutable as this climate is, the greatest variation I ever saw was between Friday and Sunday last.
From The Greville Memoirs (Second Part) A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852 (Volume 1 of 3) by Greville, Charles
For many loves are good to see; Mutable loves, and loves perverse; But there is nothing, nor shall be, So sweet, so wicked, but my verse Can dream of worse.
From Poems & Ballads (First Series) by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
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.
