Dictionary.com
definitions

acceptable

[ak-sep-tuh-buh l]
|
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR acceptable ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

capable or worthy of being accepted.
pleasing to the receiver; satisfactory; agreeable; welcome.
meeting only minimum requirements; barely adequate: an acceptable performance.
capable of being endured; tolerable; bearable: acceptable levels of radiation.

RELATED CONTENT

Is It Ever OK To Say “Didja”?Didja ever think that there are ways of speaking that feel perfectly comfortable . . . but that would seem wrong if you wrote them down? Sorta like the way this sentence is written. Lemme tell you ‘bout this very phenomenon, relaxed pronunciation. Pronunciation is defined as “the conventional patterns of treatment of the sound and stress patterns of a syllable or word.” Relaxed pronunciation, …
READ MORE
Among vs. AmongstWhen you’re among friends, you talk amongst yourselves, right? Or is it the other way around? Among and amongst are variations of the same word. Among is more common in American English, while amongst used almost exclusively in British English. History and Meaning Amongst may feel more archaic to speakers of American English, but among is actually the older word, dating back to Old English …
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

fair, decent, sufficient, respectable, common, adequate, tolerable, admissible, average, big, cool, delightful, hip, kosher, large, okay, passable, pleasant, pleasing, standard

Nearby words

  1. accentuate,
  2. accentuation,
  3. accentuator,
  4. accept,
  5. acceptability,
  6. acceptance,
  7. acceptance race,
  8. acceptance region,
  9. acceptancy,
  10. acceptant

Origin of acceptable

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Late Latin word acceptābilis. See accept, -able
Related forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for acceptable

British Dictionary definitions for acceptable

acceptable

adjective

satisfactory; adequate
pleasing; welcome
tolerable
Derived Formsacceptability or acceptableness, nounacceptably, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for acceptable

acceptable

adj.

late 14c., from Old French acceptable, from Latin acceptabilis "worthy of acceptance," from acceptare (see accept). Related: Acceptably.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper