navigable
Americanadjective
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deep and wide enough to provide passage to ships.
a navigable channel.
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capable of being steered or guided, as a ship, aircraft, or missile.
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Computers. designed or arranged in a way that facilitates moving from web page to web page or from one section to another on a website.
adjective
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wide, deep, or safe enough to be sailed on or through
a navigable channel
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capable of being steered or controlled
a navigable raft
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of navigable
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin nāvigābilis, equivalent to nāvigā(re) “to sail” ( see navigate) + -bilis -ble
Explanation
If you can get your ship through, then both the ship and the waterway are navigable. If people of average intelligence could wade their way through the federal tax code without help, the IRS would be navigable. Alas. On the other hand, the New York City subway system is quite navigable, as are any of its functioning trains. If one can get through a passageway or system, it is considered navigable. Likewise, if a truck, car, boat, plane, train, or other vessel can be steered then it, too, is navigable.
Vocabulary lists containing navigable
Power Suffix: -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.
Across the country, about an hour south of Tucson, Arizona, another mining complex is already breaking ground as a result of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule.
From Salon • Feb. 5, 2023
The progress in the Copper World Mining Complex is "a direct result" of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, he said.
From Salon • Feb. 5, 2023
Navigable by 4x4s in daylight, the track is notorious for potholes, steep drops and washouts.
From Washington Post • Apr. 15, 2022
Navigable for canoes at high tide, is about eight miles in length, and from 150 to 200 feet in width.
From Official Report of the Exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands for the Government of British Columbia by Chittenden, Newton H. (Newton Henry)
Navigable rivers unite rather than separate, for the obvious reason that they generally flow through populous valleys, and the vessels that pass up and down can touch as easily on one side as the other.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 8 "Ethiopia" to "Evangelical Association" by Various
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.
