colourable
Britishadjective
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capable of being coloured
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appearing to be true; plausible
a colourable excuse
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pretended; feigned
colourable affection
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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.
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
To lecture against war, and against taxes as directly supporting war, would wear a most colourable air of truth amongst all weak-minded persons.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 340, February, 1844 by Various
Once a big shell burst within a yard of the grassy roof, on the very edge of the high ground of which the roof was a colourable extension.
From Notes of a Camp-Follower on the Western Front by Hornung, E. W. (Ernest William)
Not a blow was struck which gave a colourable ground for outrage on the part of the police.
From Bygones Worth Remembering, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Holyoake, George Jacob
In fact, I have stretched a point in admitting that these fossils afford a colourable pretext for the assumption that the land and air-population were of contemporaneous origin.
From Essays Upon Some Controverted Questions by Huxley, Thomas H.
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.
