transferable
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
If something can be transferred from one person to another, it's transferable. That's good news, if you're talking about front-row tickets to the Mariah Carey concert. One way that anthropologists decide whether a group has a "culture" is by determining whether the skills and habits they practice are transferable from one generation to the next. For example, chimps are known to teach their young how to use twigs to fish for grubs. That means the skill gets passed on — it's transferable. In the legal or financial sense, transferable refers to something the value of which can be passed from one person to another. Remember: those airline tickets aren't transferable: only you can use them!
Vocabulary lists containing transferable
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.
Their task is to develop transferable skills to thrive in a working world that may turn out to be unrecognizable.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
It does not matter what your first job is - the transferable skills you learn are more valuable for your future career than the job itself, experts say.
From BBC • Feb. 26, 2026
Spencer Howard, a Washington, D.C.-based consultant who helps clients earn and book business- and first-class flights, said he steers clients toward transferable points so they can pivot if one airline has no seats.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
Moreover, the tokens are not anticipated to be transferable or able to be transferred for cash.
From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025
Simple, direct, and transferable to all men, all women, all people of all nations of the earth.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
