adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonreusable adjective
- nonreuseable adjective
- nonusable adjective
- nonuseable adjective
- reusability noun
- reusable adjective
- reusableness noun
- reuseability noun
- reuseable adjective
- reuseableness noun
- unusable adjective
- unusableness noun
- unusably adverb
- unuseable adjective
- unuseableness noun
- unuseably adverb
- usability noun
- usableness noun
- usably adverb
- useability noun
- useableness noun
- useably adverb
Etymology
Origin of usable
Explanation
Something that's usable can be successfully used right away for its intended purpose. If your car is usable, it's running just fine. A usable tent has all of its poles and is more or less waterproof, and a usable pair of shoes fits well and doesn't have holes. Describing something as usable can sometimes be faint praise: "Well, this basketball is usable, but just barely." When information is described as usable, it usually means it's actively available, and not just stored in a computer, for example. This is a relatively new adjective, first appearing around 1840.
Vocabulary lists containing usable
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.
These charges then need to travel through the material and reach the electrodes to generate usable electricity.
From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2026
Hyperscalers can order servers and deploy them quickly, but the transformer that steps down high-voltage transmission to usable power cannot be rushed.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026
Officials and analysts note that Iran does have uranium that could be enriched around the one-week time frame to make it usable for a nuclear weapon.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 2, 2026
University of Manchester's Dr Ciara McGrath said the tool will help keep space "usable for future generations".
From BBC • Feb. 21, 2026
Even if they built the strongest rope ladder in history, Frankie wasn’t sure how she’d be able to use it when she was weak and had only one usable arm.
From "Time Bomb" by Joelle Charbonneau
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.
