submersible

American  

[suhb-mur-suh-buhl] / səbˈmɜr sə bəl /

adjective

1. capable of being submersed.

2. capable of functioning while submersed.

   a submersible pump.

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noun

1. a ship capable of submerging and operating under water; submarine.

2. a device designed for underwater work or exploration, as a bathyscaphe or diving bell.

submersible British  

/ səbˈmɜːdʒɪbəl, səbˈmɜːsəbəl /

adjective

1. able to be submerged

2. capable of operating under water, etc

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noun

1. a vessel designed to operate under water for short periods

2. a submarine taking one or more men that is designed and equipped to carry out work in deep water below the levels at which divers can work

Other Word Forms

• nonsubmersible
  adjective
• submersibility
  noun
• unsubmersible
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of submersible

First recorded in 1865–70; submerse + -ible

Explanation

Use the word submersible to describe something that can be used under water, like your fancy new submersible video camera. If you can use your watch while you're scuba diving, it's submersible, and so is all of your diving gear. Anything that functions in the water can be described this way, including a submarine, which is sometimes actually called a submersible, as are other machines designed to work under water. The word comes from the Latin submergere, "to plunge under or sink," from the root words sub, "under," and mergere, "to plunge or immerse."

Example Sentences

As a young postdoctoral scientist, he joined pioneering expeditions and descended more than a mile below the ocean surface in the submersible Alvin, where he observed thriving ecosystems in total darkness.

From Science Daily • Apr. 3, 2026

The robot is fully submersible in case of flooding and is compatible with special snow tires.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2026

A dome-fronted submersible sinks beneath the waves off Indonesia, heading down nearly 1,000 metres in search of new species, plastic-eating microbes and compounds that could one day make medicines.

From Barron's • Jan. 26, 2026

When she hits, she’s hilarious: An extended bit about leaving a puddle of her perspiration on a piece of gym equipment involves James Cameron developing a submersible to get to the bottom of it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025

There’s an octopus on the screen with giant ears, translucent, flapping through the water in the cold light of a submersible.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini