habitable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of habitable
1350–1400; Middle English habitābilis, equivalent to habitā ( re ) to inhabit ( see habitat) + -bilis -ble; replacing Middle English abitable < Middle French
Explanation
Something habitable is appropriate to live in. If you're having the wood floors of your house refinished, it might not be habitable until they've completely dried. Earth is a habitable planet: Mars isn't. In other words, humans can live comfortably on Earth, since its atmosphere has air we can breathe and temperatures we can tolerate. While many of us live in perfectly habitable homes and cities, there are also people whose living situations wouldn't be considered habitable by most of us. In Old French, habitable means "suitable for human dwelling," from the Latin habitare, "to inhabit."
Vocabulary lists containing habitable
Canada - Introductory
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Canada - Middle School and High School
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Farewell to Manzanar
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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.
“But in the deep interior you do have habitable conditions.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Previous research has identified rocky planets orbiting within the habitable zones of their stars.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
"This is the first time anyone has found an atmosphere on a rocky planet in the habitable zone of another star."
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The planet lies about 124 light years away in the constellation Leo and orbits within the habitable zone of a red dwarf star.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
From here, I see we’ve barely explored the habitable zone during our sample collection missions.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
