affordable

American  

[uh-fawr-duh-buhl] / əˈfɔr də bəl /

adjective

1. that can be afforded; believed to be within one's financial means.

   attractive new cars at affordable prices.

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noun

1. Usually affordables. items, expenses, etc., that one can afford.

   a variety of affordables for your gift list.

Usage

What does affordable mean? If something is affordable, it means its price is low enough that you (or most people) have enough money to buy it.Affordable is the adjective form of the verb afford. If you can afford something, you have enough money to pay for it. Much less commonly, affordable can be used as a noun meaning an item that one can afford.Example: Rachel wants to buy a luxury car, but with her budget I think she should consider a more affordable option.

Other Word Forms

• affordability noun
• affordably adverb
• unaffordability noun
• unaffordable adjective

Etymology

Origin of affordable

First recorded in 1865–70; afford + -able

Example Sentences

“I think it’s actually going to rewrite how cities are made entirely. If we wanted to use some of that space to build more housing and make cities more affordable, we could.”

From MarketWatch

But again, it comes up because there is no obvious source of funds for affordable housing.

From Los Angeles Times

“We can lower interest rates a lot, and in so doing get 30-year fixed-rate mortgages so they’re affordable, so we can get the housing market to get going again,” he said in October.

From The Wall Street Journal

Because the nanodots are made from a widely used metal oxide rather than costly or toxic noble metals such as gold or silver, they may also be more affordable and safer to manufacture.

From Science Daily

We published and distributed affordable CD-based software for newly emerging personal computers.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cheap
• economical