answerable
Americanadjective
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liable to be asked to give account; responsible.
He is answerable to a committee for all his decisions.
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capable of being answered.
a question answerable by mail.
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proportionate; correlative (usually followed byto ).
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corresponding; suitable (usually followed byto ).
The amount is not answerable to my needs.
adjective
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(postpositive; foll by for or to) responsible or accountable
answerable for someone's safety
answerable to one's boss
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able to be answered
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of answerable
Explanation
If a question is answerable, you have a response to it. But if a person is answerable, she is responsible for something, the way a team captain is answerable for the behavior of the team as a whole. Sometimes you'll hear a question described as being answerable or unanswerable. "What's the meaning of life?" is unanswerable, while "What did you have for breakfast?" is answerable. But if you are answerable for something (or someone), it means you're accountable. So you might say that a country's president is answerable for the actions of that country's military, or that your neighbor is answerable for the damage his dog did to the plastic flamingo lawn ornaments in your yard.
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.
Answerable to Congress, rather than the president, the force is responsible for the protection of the Capitol and members of Congress.
From The Guardian • Jan. 7, 2021
They spoke of finding-spells, and invocations, and those Answerable Questions which only the Master Patterner of Roke can ask.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Answerable to this, the church, even in the wilderness or under persecution, is compared not only to a woman, but to a comely and delicate woman.
From The Riches of Bunyan Selected from His Works by Bunyan, John
Answerable to this is that of the prophet concerning this house of the forest of Lebanon, where he says, 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon! that the fire may devour thy cedars.'
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by Bunyan, John
Answerable to this, the church, even in the wilderness, or under persecution, is compared not only to a woman, but to a comely and delicate woman.
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by Bunyan, John
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.
