sustainable
Americanadjective
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capable of being supported or upheld, as by having its weight borne from below.
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pertaining to a system that maintains its own viability by using techniques that allow for continual reuse.
sustainable agriculture. Aquaculture is a sustainable alternative to overfishing.
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able to be maintained or kept going, as an action or process.
a sustainable negotiation between the two countries.
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able to be confirmed or upheld.
a sustainable decision.
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able to be supported as with the basic necessities or sufficient funds.
a sustainable life.
adjective
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capable of being sustained
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(of economic development, energy sources, etc) capable of being maintained at a steady level without exhausting natural resources or causing severe ecological damage
sustainable development
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(of economic growth) non-inflationary
Other Word Forms
- nonsustainability noun
- nonsustainable adjective
- sustainability noun
- unsustainable adjective
Etymology
Origin of sustainable
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.
Encouraging more sustainable eating habits depends in part on understanding how people perceive the environmental footprint of different foods.
From Science Daily
But ABC managing director Hugh Marks said the offer "reflects the maximum level the ABC can sustainably provide and is balanced when looking across all the factors that we need to consider".
From BBC
The question is whether this leads to "a more sustainable, longer-term relationship" that is better than a "constant back and forth of conflict," he said.
From Barron's
“I just don’t think these are sustainable moves,” he said.
The cement-maker doesn’t have large-scale operations in the Middle East, and its pivot to sustainable production insulates the company from surging natural-gas prices, Bell adds.
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.
