potable

(pō'tə-bəl)
adj.
Fit to drink.

n.
A beverage, especially an alcoholic beverage: wine and other potables.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin pōtābilis, from Latin pōtāre, to drink, from pōtus, a drink.]

potability po'ta·bil'i·ty or po'ta·ble·ness n.

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Suitable for drinking.


Example: The absence of potable water available to the land made it unsuitable for a housing development. The presence of toxic contaminants in the water at an unacceptable level meant that the water was not potable.

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adj. [POH-tuh-bl] A word used to describe a liquid suitable for drinking, such as potable water. potable n. Any beverage, particularly those containing alcohol.

noun

Any liquid that is fit for drinking: beverage, drink, drinkable, liquor. See dry/wet.

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

Suitable for drinking. Water is said to be potable; indeed, some declare it our natural beverage, although even they find it palatable only when suffering from the recurrent disorder known as thirst, for which it is a medicine. Upon nothing has so great and diligent ingenuity been brought to bear in all ages and in all countries, except the most uncivilized, as upon the invention of substitutes for water. To hold that this general aversion to that liquid has no basis in the preservative instinct of the race is to be unscientific -- and without science we are as the snakes and toads.

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IN BRIEF: Fit for drinking.

The backpackers carried potable water up the mountain.

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Fit to drink.

For a list of words related to potable, see:

• Drinking Terms - potable: something fit to drink

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See words rhyming with "potable."

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - drikkelig, drikke-
n. - drik

Nederlands (Dutch)
drinkbaar

Français (French)
adj. - potable
n. - boisson

Deutsch (German)
n. - Getränk
adj. - trinkbar

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ποτό
adj. - πόσιμος

Italiano (Italian)
potabile

Português (Portuguese)
n. - bebidas (f pl)
adj. - potável

Русский (Russian)
пригодный для питья

Español (Spanish)
adj. - potable
n. - potable

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - dryckjom
adj. - drickbar

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
适于饮用的, 饮料

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 適於飲用的
n. - 飲料

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 마시기에 알맞은
n. - 음료, 술

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 飲用に適した
n. - 飲み物

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ماء مشروب (صفه) صالح للشرب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮ראוי לשתייה‬
n. - ‮משקאות‬

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