colourable

British  

/ ˈkʌlərəbəl /

adjective

1. capable of being coloured

2. appearing to be true; plausible

   a colourable excuse

3. pretended; feigned

   colourable affection

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Other Word Forms

• colourability
  noun
• colourably
  adverb

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colourable

He added Slater "genuinely held on at least colourable grounds" the belief that an issue with the Act was "unlikely actually to pose a problem for the scheme".

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2026

Captain Sarsfield, Colonel Peard, known as "Garibaldi's Englishman," De Rohan, Captain Scott, and others on the spot, with colourable pretensions to authority, took different views of the situation.

From Bygones Worth Remembering, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Holyoake, George Jacob

"Not colourable, anyhow," said Acton, with a wink at Jack.

From Acton's Feud A Public School Story by Swainson, Frederick

All of them show the basest ingratitude under a colourable cloak of human excuse.

From William Shakespeare by Masefield, John

And these are the worthy Services which the Spaniards do for our Kings in those Countries, by the injust and colourable pretences aforesaid.

From A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies Or, a faithful NARRATIVE OF THE Horrid and Unexampled Massacres, Butcheries, and all manner of Cruelties, that Hell and Malice could invent, committed by the Popish Spanish Party on the inhabitants of West-India, TOGETHER With the Devastations of several Kingdoms in America by Fire and Sword, for the space of Forty and Two Years, from the time of its first Discovery by them. by Casas, Bartolomé de las