adj.

1. Capable of existing or performing in harmonious, agreeable, or congenial combination with another or others: compatible family relationships.
2. Capable of orderly, efficient integration and operation with other elements in a system with no modification or conversion required.
3. Capable of forming a chemically or biochemically stable system.
4. Of or relating to a television system in which color broadcasts can be received in black and white by sets incapable of color reception.
5. Medicine. Capable of being grafted, transfused, or transplanted from one individual to another without rejection: compatible blood.

n.

A device, such as a computer or computer software, that can be integrated into or used with another device or system of its type.

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin compatībilis, from Late Latin compatī, to sympathize. See compassion.]

compatibility com·pat'i·bil'i·ty or com·pat'i·ble·ness n.
compatibly com·pat'i·bly adv.

ADVERTISEMENT

Standards make up the most important issue in the computer field. As an unregulated industry, we have wound up with thousands of data formats and languages, but few standards that are universally used. This subject is as heated as politics and religion to vendors and industry planners. In order to truly understand this industry, it is essential to understand the categories for which standards are created.

No matter how much the industry talks about compatibility, new formats and languages appear routinely. The standards makers are always trying to cast a standard in concrete, while the innovators are trying to create a new one. Even when standards are created, they are violated as soon as one vendor adds a proprietary extension.

The Future

After 50 some years of computing, we've managed to create thousands of languages, formats and interfaces in this business. While many become bona fide standards endorsed by recognized standards organizations such as ANSI and the IEEE, some of the most widely used are de facto standards. Intel and Microsoft standards are the most obvious examples.

While the Internet is helping immensely, it will by no means solve all issues. As we forge ahead with new technologies, there is some point where we can no longer cling to the old designs for compatibility. At that time, the new has to break from the past, as the previous infrastructure only holds us back. It's no different than constructing a new building on top of a weak foundation. It seems to be the way of things. See standards bodies.

Standards Categories

These are the major categories of electronic systems that require standards. Developing information systems in today's environment often seems like the Tower of Babel.

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1. Term describing two devices that can work together. For example, a particular brand of printer is compatible with a particular computer to which it can be connected.

2. Two computers that can run the same programs. Many microcomputer programs claim to be ‘IBM-PC compatible.'

adjective

In keeping with one's needs or expectations: accordant, agreeable, conformable, congenial, congruous, consistent, consonant, correspondent, corresponding, harmonious. See agree/disagree.

adj

Definition: agreeable, in harmony
Antonyms: antagonistic, antipathetic, disagreeable, incompatible, inharmonious, unsuitable, unsuited

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Two propositions are compatible if they can both be true together, i.e. they are not mutually inconsistent.

Capable of existing together without adverse reaction. In therapeutics drugs that can be administered together without reacting together so as to destroy each other's effectiveness.

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IN BRIEF: Able to be together and get along.

Scruffy and Fluffy were very compatible puppies.

Common misspelling(s) of compatible

• compatable

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - som passer godt sammen, forenelig, kompatibel
n. - kompatibel pc

Nederlands (Dutch)
verenigbaar, combineerbaar met andere merken (computer)

Français (French)
adj. - (Comput) compatible
n. - (Comput) ordinateur (compatible)

Deutsch (German)
adj. - vereinbar, kompatibel
n. - Vereinbarkeit, Zueinander-passen, Kompatibilität, Verträglichkeit

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - συμβατός, ταιριαστός, συμβαδίζων, εναρμονισμένος

Italiano (Italian)
compatibile

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - compatível

Русский (Russian)
совместимый

Español (Spanish)
adj. - compatible, conciliable
n. - pieza, parte o equipo que tiene igual diseño que otro y realiza similares funciones

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - förenlig, kompatibel (tekn.), överensstämmande

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
谐调的, 兼容的, 一致的, 兼容

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 諧調的, 相容的, 一致的
n. - 相容

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 양립할 수 있는, 흑백 겸용식의, 호환성이 있는
n. - 다른 형태용으로 만들어진 소프트웨어를 사용할 수 있는 컴퓨터

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 矛盾しない, 相性のよい

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) مطابق, ملائم, لائق, مناسب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מתאים, הולם, תואם‬
n. - ‮מחשב תואם‬

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Compatible Q5942a	Q5942x Compatible
Q6511x Compatible	Compatible 3711a001aa