adj.
- Capable of existing or performing in harmonious, agreeable, or congenial combination with another or others: compatible family relationships.
- Capable of orderly, efficient integration and operation with other elements in a system with no modification or conversion required.
- Capable of forming a chemically or biochemically stable system.
- Of or relating to a television system in which color broadcasts can be received in black and white by sets incapable of color reception.
- Medicine. Capable of being grafted, transfused, or transplanted from one individual to another without rejection: compatible blood.
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
