palatable

American  

[pal-uh-tuh-buhl] / ˈpæl ə tə bəl /

adjective

1. acceptable or agreeable to the palate or taste; savory.

   palatable food.

   Synonyms:

   delectable, delicious

   Antonyms:

   distasteful, tasteless, unsavory, unpalatable

2. acceptable or agreeable to the mind or feelings.

   palatable ideas.

   Synonyms:

   satisfactory, pleasing

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palatable British  

/ ˈpælətəbəl /

adjective

1. pleasant to taste

2. acceptable or satisfactory

   a palatable suggestion

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Synonym Usage

Palatable, appetizing, tasty, savory all refer to tastes or aromas pleasing to the palate and in some cases to the olfactory nerves. Palatable has the least positive connotation of these terms, often referring to food that is merely acceptable and not especially good: a palatable, if undistinguished, main course; a barely palatable mixture of overcooked vegetables. Appetizing suggests stimulation of the appetite by the smell, taste of food, and is the only one of these words that can also refer to food pleasing to the eye: the appetizing aroma of baking bread; the table contained an appetizing display of meats, cheeses, and salads. Tasty refers to food that has a notable or especially appealing taste: mixed with bits of a tasty sausage; an especially tasty sauce. Savory refers most often to well or highly seasoned foods and applies to their appeal in both taste and smell: a savory, succulent roast of beef, spiced with slivers of garlic; the savory aroma of a simmering duck sauce.

Other Word Forms

• palatability
  noun
• palatableness
  noun
• nonpalatable
  adjective
• nonpalatably
  adverb
• palatably
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of palatable

First recorded in 1660–70; palate + -able

Explanation

Something that is palatable is acceptable to one’s sense of taste—literally or figuratively. If it's palatable, then you can put up with it — whether it's leftovers or a mediocre made-for-TV movie. The palate is the roof of the mouth, the combination of structures that separates the mouth from the nose. Early anatomists believed that the sense of taste was located in the palate, and, just as taste is metaphorically expanded to include sensibilities beyond the experience of food and drink, so palatable can be used to describe phenomena beyond the culinary. And, while palatable can mean pleasing or agreeable, it generally means merely tolerable—edible, rather than delicious.

Example Sentences

"The price of game production has been increasing and if GTA 6 can lead the charge for a price increase that is palatable for players, it's likely other studios will follow suit," she said.

From BBC • Jun. 24, 2026

Dusky farmerfish in East Asia grow “crops” of red algae by assiduously “weeding out less palatable foods” and have effectively domesticated a type of shrimp whose waste fertilizes the algae and boosts yields.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026

Rice’s readers might not have been quite so queasy about this; her antihero has a way of making many horrors palatable.

From Salon • Jun. 13, 2026

The “outsized pullback in shares” from those worries make for “a more interesting setup emerging as once-lofty optical premiums begin to look more palatable to investors,” Chatterjee said in his Thursday note.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 11, 2026

And they became more palatable when folded into a total debt package produced by a war for independence.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• acceptable
• agreeable
• appetizing
• attractive
• delicious
• enjoyable
• pleasant
• satisfactory
• tempting