amiable
Americanadjective
-
having or showing pleasant, good-natured personal qualities; affable.
an amiable disposition.
- Synonyms:
- gracious
- Antonyms:
- rude
-
friendly; sociable.
an amiable greeting; an amiable gathering.
- Synonyms:
- amicable
- Antonyms:
- hostile, unfriendly
-
agreeable; willing to accept the wishes, decisions, or suggestions of another or others.
-
Obsolete. lovable or lovely.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- amiability noun
- amiableness noun
- amiably adverb
- quasi-amiable adjective
- quasi-amiably adverb
- unamiable adjective
- unamiableness noun
- unamiably adverb
Etymology
Origin of amiable
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin amīcābilis amicable
Explanation
A friendly, pleasant person could be described as amiable. Airline flight attendants tend to be amiable. The people monitoring the school's cafeteria? Maybe not. An amiable person is good-natured and easy to get along with. Add one letter and you get amicable, a word with a common ancestor (Latin amicabilis) and a similar meaning. But while amiable refers to friendly people, amicable refers to friendly relations between them; two amiable people who no longer want to be married to one another might have an amicable divorce.
Vocabulary lists containing amiable
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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All You Need is Love: Amor and Phil
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
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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.
For all his amiable composure, Ding has indulged in some hot-dogging.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
He eventually entered to find his boss, Winston Churchill, and Gen. Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free French, puffing cigars and “sitting side by side with amiable expressions on their faces.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026
Happily, it still airs episodes of “California’s Gold” and “Visiting,” from my man, the late yet eternal Huell Howser, that amiable, amazed videographer of our city and state.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2025
Who could’ve guessed that a spin on “A Christmas Carol” that follows a woman with a bad haircut tormenting her neighbors might not be the most amiable take on this heartwarming story?
From Salon • Dec. 24, 2025
They seemed to be getting on well; Ba was being so amiable, and I saw how it could be, should be, with Ba and me.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
