understandable
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of understandable
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English: originally, “capable of understanding”; understand + -able
Explanation
Something understandable can be understood or grasped. It makes sense. Since understanding something means you comprehend or get it, when things are understandable, they can be perceived or fathomed. If a friend cancels plans to see a movie because he's sick, that's understandable. Leaving one job for a better paying job is understandable. Eating a lot of cake on your birthday is understandable. Understandable things are easy to grasp and no one is likely to doubt or question them. The opposite of understandable would be weird, odd, or inexplicable.
Vocabulary lists containing understandable
-able, -ible
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-able, -ible
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-able, -ible
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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.
"Walking the tightrope of providing guidance to residents and recovering council tax arrears to fund essential local authority services is no doubt difficult," it said in its report called Clear, Fair, Understandable.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026
"If it looks nicer, it looks like you put time into it, so you care about it and you know what you are doing. Understandable and attractive graphs can be trustworthy. It is a win-win!"
From Science Daily • Sep. 20, 2023
Understandable, since Cassian does not survive the events of the 2016 film.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 12, 2023
Understandable, since she had children with Julius Caesar and Caesar's lieutenant Mark Antony, whose death in her arms inspired future writers to romanticize their love story above the other.
From Salon • May 11, 2023
Understandable and touching as the look with which Natasha gazed at her seemed to Princess Mary, and sorry as she was to see her agitation, these words pained her for a moment.
From War and Peace by Tolstoy, Leo, graf
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.
