portable
Americanadjective
-
capable of being transported or conveyed.
a portable stage.
-
easily carried or conveyed by hand.
I found a lightweight, portable propane stove for our trekking holiday.
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Computers. (of data sets, software, etc.) capable of being used on different computer systems.
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Obsolete. endurable.
noun
adjective
-
able to be carried or moved easily, esp by hand
-
(of software, files, etc) able to be transferred from one type of computer system to another
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archaic able to be endured; bearable
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of portable
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Late Latin portābilis; see port 5, -able
Explanation
If something's portable, you can easily take it with you . You may carry your portable computer with you from class to class because it's small, light, and fits easily in your backpack. First appearing around 1400, portable stems from the Latin word portare, meaning "to carry." Used as an adjective, portable describes something you can carry around easily. Used as a noun, it means a smaller, easy-to-carry version of something, like a computer or television. On a trip, you might take your portable so you can watch movies in the car. Before computers became popular, you might have carried around a lightweight typewriter called a portable.
Vocabulary lists containing portable
Vocabulary from history writings about the Triangle Factory Fire
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Latin Love, Vol I: portare
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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.
Portable restrooms and hydration stations will be available.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
Archaeologist Dr John Pearce, from King's College, London, researched the item for the Portable Antiquities Scheme and said there is "nothing quite like it in Romano- Britain".
From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026
Portable loans would allow sellers to keep their loan when they move.
From Barron's • Nov. 12, 2025
The most important of these was “The Portable Faulkner,” a perceptively organized anthology of novel excerpts and short stories, for Viking Press in 1946.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
Stepping carefully, we sloshed and fought our way through the mud to Portable 19.
From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor
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.
