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mutable

[myoo-tuh-buh l]
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adjective
  1. liable or subject to change or alteration.
  2. given to changing; constantly changing; fickle or inconstant: the mutable ways of fortune.
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Origin of mutable

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin mūtābilis, equivalent to mūtā(re) to change + -bilis -ble
Related formsmu·ta·bil·i·ty, mu·ta·ble·ness, nounmu·ta·bly, adverbhy·per·mu·ta·bil·i·ty, nounhy·per·mu·ta·ble, adjectivehy·per·mu·ta·ble·ness, nounhy·per·mu·ta·bly, adverbnon·mu·ta·bil·i·ty, nounnon·mut·a·ble, adjectivenon·mut·a·ble·ness, nounnon·mut·a·bly, adverbun·mu·ta·ble, adjective

Synonyms

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1. changeable, variable. 2. unstable, vacillating, unsettled, wavering, unsteady.

Antonyms

2. stable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for mutable

Historical Examples

  • Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.

    Essays, First Series

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "Too bright—too mutable," answered the doctor, shaking his head.

    Ernest Linwood

    Caroline Lee Hentz

  • Caius did not attempt to carve his inscription on the mutable sandstone.

    The Mermaid

    Lily Dougall

  • Something permanent in the midst of all that is mutable we may expect to find here.

    Homer's Odyssey

    Denton J. Snider

  • By changing the initial to the second state, if it is mutable.

British Dictionary definitions for mutable

mutable

adjective
  1. able to or tending to change
  2. astrology of or relating to four of the signs of the zodiac, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, which are associated with the quality of adaptabilityCompare cardinal (def. 9), fixed (def. 10)
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Derived Formsmutability or rare mutableness, nounmutably, adverb

Word Origin

C14: from Latin mūtābilis fickle, from mūtāre to change
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 mutable

adj.

late 14c., "liable to change," from Latin mutabilis "changeable," from mutare "to change," from PIE root *mei- "to change, go, move" (cf. Sanskrit methati "changes, alternates, joins, meets;" Avestan mitho "perverted, false;" Hittite mutai- "be changed into;" Latin meare "to go, pass," migrare "to move from one place to another;" Old Church Slavonic mite "alternately;" Czech mijim "to go by, pass by," Polish mijać "avoid;" Gothic maidjan "to change"); with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services as regulated by custom or law (cf. Latin mutuus "done in exchange," munus "service performed for the community, duty, work").

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper