soluble
Americanadjective
-
capable of being dissolved or liquefied.
a soluble powder.
-
capable of being solved or explained.
a soluble problem.
noun
adjective
-
(of a substance) capable of being dissolved, esp easily dissolved in some solvent, usually water
-
capable of being solved or answered
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of soluble
1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin solūbilis, equivalent to Latin solū-, variant stem of solvere to loosen, dissolve + -bilis -ble
Explanation
Sugar is soluble. It dissolves easily in water. You can also use the word to describe a problem that can be solved easily. How are the two definitions of soluble related? When you dissolve something in a liquid, the combination is known as a solvent or a solution. All of these "sol-" words descend from the Latin word that means loosen or unfasten. When you dissolve something in water, you loosen the molecules. And if you think of a problem like a knot, to solve it is to loosen it up.
Vocabulary lists containing soluble
Matter and Energy
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Nutrition - Middle School
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Matter and Energy 2: Properties of Matter, Chemical Reactions, and Energy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And some vitamins, like A, D, E and K, are fat soluble so the body stores them for longer, so it might not be necessary to take them on a daily basis.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
"You could run into the extremes of eating too much, where if you're not drinking enough water to hydrate and exceed the amount of soluble and insoluble fiber, you can get constipated," Lee said.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2026
Foods rich in soluble fiber include many fruits and vegetables, such as apples, avocados, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2026
“I like to think of soluble fiber as a sponge,” Harbstreet says.
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2026
He told me, “Paul and Jim had mobilized the TB tribe to accept drug-resistant TB as a soluble problem,” but victory over MDR was far from assured.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
