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.
The decision was understandable given the need to free up beds for Covid patients.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
It was understandable that few understood the decision.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2026
They show O’Keeffe’s favored back view, and the beguilingly spare, almost biomorphic forms of its massive adobe buttresses, along with the subtle shadows, that make that completely understandable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
There are a couple of understandable reasons older people put off installing a stairlift.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
All my magazine reading and overheard remarks fell at once into a grotesque but understandable pattern.
From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
