habitable

[ hab-i-tuh-buhl ]

adjective

1. capable of being inhabited.

habitable

/ ˈhæbɪtəbəl /

adjective

1. able to be lived in

Derived Forms

• ˈhabitably, adverb
• ˌhabitaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• habit·a·bili·ty habit·a·ble·ness noun
• habit·a·bly adverb
• nonhab·it·a·bili·ty noun
• non·habit·a·ble adjective
• non·habit·a·ble·ness noun
• non·habit·a·bly adverb
• un·habit·a·ble adjective
• un·habit·a·ble·ness noun
• un·habit·a·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of habitable¹

1350–1400; Middle English habitābilis, equivalent to habitā ( re ) to inhabit ( habitat ) + -bilis -ble; replacing Middle English abitable < Middle French

Example Sentences

It could be one of the closest habitable planet prospects to date, although it’s probably not much like Earth if it exists.

From MIT Technology Review

The Emirates Mars Mission is part of a larger investigation that planetary scientists have been pursuing for decades now, hoping to discover what transformed Mars from a wet, warm, potentially habitable world into a dry and cold one.

From MIT Technology Review

Plus, at least three of them appear to be in the star’s habitable zone, the region where temperatures might be right for liquid water.

From Science News

If there are no volatiles—and therefore no indication was once habitable or still might be—a sample return mission seems highly unlikely.

From MIT Technology Review

In fact, most planets that stayed habitable at least once, did so fewer than ten times out of 100.

From Popular-Science

Although Escobar's Cathedral was still incomplete, it was habitable.

From The Daily Beast

In our Solar System, only smaller, rocky planets orbit within the habitable zone.

From The Daily Beast

Imagine, though, a Saturn-mass exoplanet with a Titan-sized moon orbiting its star within the habitable zone.

From The Daily Beast

So, for us to know if Kepler-186f is habitable or not, we have to consider several “ifs”.

From The Daily Beast

Venus orbits the Sun within the habitable zone, and is only slightly smaller than Earth.

From The Daily Beast

Switzerland, though a small country, and not half of this habitable, speaks three different languages.

From Project Gutenberg

This was the first small beginning of that great tourist business which now encircles the habitable globe.

From Project Gutenberg

Somewhere you must go, for the workmen are coming into the house; and for the next two months it will not be habitable.

From Project Gutenberg

It was true that almost every habitable part of America had already been seized by some European power.

From Project Gutenberg

No great attempt was made to get the guardians to provide the necessary separate accommodation, or to make it decently habitable.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• livable