understandable
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of understandable
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English: originally, “capable of understanding”; understand + -able
Explanation
Something understandable can be understood or grasped. It makes sense. Since understanding something means you comprehend or get it, when things are understandable, they can be perceived or fathomed. If a friend cancels plans to see a movie because he's sick, that's understandable. Leaving one job for a better paying job is understandable. Eating a lot of cake on your birthday is understandable. Understandable things are easy to grasp and no one is likely to doubt or question them. The opposite of understandable would be weird, odd, or inexplicable.
Vocabulary lists containing understandable
-able, -ible
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-able, -ible
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-able, -ible
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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.
There’s an understandable pacing dip afterward, when the wounded villagers think the nightmare is over and our protagonists learn separately that the forest holds more of these mysteriously strong creatures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Wondering whether your $1.53 million will be enough to retire on is understandable.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
“Americans are hearing conflicting messages about vaccines right now, and it’s understandable that people are asking whom they should trust,” Dr. Bruce Gellin of the Vaccine Integrity Project told NPR.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
It’s understandable that people often frame the AI boom in terms of earlier tech investment cycles, notably the telecom boom and bust of the 1990s and early 2000s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
They labored together so closely for such long, unbroken hours that it was understandable that their contributions to the finished product blurred into one another.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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.
