renewable

[ri-noo, -nyoo]

adjective

noun

Origin of renewable

First recorded in 1720–30; renew + -able

Related formsre·new·a·bil·i·ty, nounnon·re·new·a·ble, adjectiveun·re·new·a·ble, adjective

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

Each justice could be given, for instance, a non-renewable 15-year term of service.
Justice Stevens Should Quit Now
Adam Winkler
April 5, 2010

adj.

also nonrenewable, 1946, from non- + renewable.

adj.

1727, from renew + -able. In reference to energy sources, attested by 1971.

non-renewable in Science

[rĭ-nōō′ə-bəl]

Relating to a natural resource, such as solar energy, water, or wood, that is never used up or that can be replaced by new growth. Resources that are dependent on regrowth can sometimes be depleted beyond the point of renewability, as when the deforestation of land leads to desertification or when a commercially valuable species is harvested to extinction. Pollution can also make a renewable resource such as water unusable in a particular location. Compare nonrenewable.