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colourable

British  
/ ˈkʌlərəbəl /

adjective

  1. capable of being coloured

  2. appearing to be true; plausible

    a colourable excuse

  3. pretended; feigned

    colourable affection

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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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.

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