explicable

[ek-spli-kuh-buh l, ik-splik-uh-buh l]

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adjective

capable of being explained.

Origin of explicable

1550–60; < Latin explicābilis, equivalent to explicā(re) to explicate + -bilis -ble

Related formsnon·ex·pli·ca·ble, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for explicable

intelligible, solvable, understandable

Examples from the Web for explicable

Contemporary Examples of explicable

Looking for the explicable in a case that seems so inexplicable is what the air crash investigators have to do.
Why Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Must Have Died Instantaneously
Clive Irving
March 11, 2014

Historical Examples of explicable

A beauty not explicable is dearer than a beauty which we can see to the end of.
Essays, Second Series
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many other facts are, as it seems to me, explicable on this theory.
Little Masterpieces of Science:
Various
If she hadn't loved him her course might have been explicable.
The Letter of the Contract
Basil King
This adaptation is not explicable in terms of the old mental “faculties.”
The Measurement of Intelligence
Lewis Madison Terman
Their influence upon her life is explicable alone by the nature of her longings.
Sister Carrie
Theodore Dreiser

British Dictionary definitions for explicable

explicable

adjective

capable of being explained

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

Word Origin and History for explicable

adj.

1550s, from or on model of Latin explicabilis "capable of being unraveled, that may be explained," from explicare (see explicit). Middle English had a verb expliken "explain, interpret" (mid-15c.).