renewable

[ri-noo, -nyoo]

adjective

1. able to be renewed.

   a library book that is not renewable.

noun

1. something that is renewable.

renewable

1. 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.

2. Compare nonrenewable

Other Word Forms

• renewability noun
• nonrenewable adjective
• unrenewable adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of renewable¹

First recorded in 1720–30; renew + -able

Related Words

• inexhaustible 
• sustainable