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viable

 
('ə-bəl) pronunciation
adj.
  1. Capable of living, developing, or germinating under favorable conditions.
  2. Capable of living outside the uterus. Used of a fetus or newborn.
  3. Capable of success or continuing effectiveness; practicable: a viable plan; a viable national economy. See synonyms at possible.

[French, from vie, life, from Old French, from Latin vīta.]

viability vi'a·bil'i·ty n.
viably vi'a·bly adv.

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is a 19th century loanword from French, and was first used to describe a fetus or newborn child that was capable of maintaining life. Metaphorical uses developed in the 19th century, but it was not until the 1940s that it became a vogue word applied to a whole range of ideas, plans, propositions, etc., regarded in terms of their practicability. Sometimes the metaphor is justified, but often alternatives such as feasible, practicable, sustainable, tenable, valid, workable will do just as well.

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Next:vibrator, vice, vice versa
Roget's Thesaurus:

viable

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adjective

    Capable of occurring or being done: feasible, possible, practicable, workable. Idioms: within reach. See possible/impossible.


adj

Definition: reasonable, practicable
Antonyms: impossible, unachievable, unpractical, unreasonable


a measure of the capacity of a cell for metabolism and division. It is often estimated experimentally by determining the number of cells that exclude normally membrane-impermeant dyes, e.g. Trypan Blue.

Previous:vesicle, very-low-density-lipoprotein receptor, very-low-density lipoprotein
Next:vic-, vicianose, vicilin

The state or quality of being viable.

(vī′ əbəl)
adj

Capable of life; able to live.

Random House Word Menu:

categories related to 'viable'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to viable, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Viable.
Translations:

Viable

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - levedygtig, gennemførlig, anvendelig

Nederlands (Dutch)
levensvatbaar, uitvoerbaar, in staat tot onafhankelijk bestaan, met redelijke kans op succes, financieel mogelijk

Français (French)
adj. - viable, réalisable, valable, (Biol, Méd, Zool) viable

Deutsch (German)
adj. - realisierbar, zahlungsfähig, lebensfähig

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - βιώσιμος, εφαρμόσιμος, βατός

Italiano (Italian)
praticabile, vitale

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - viável

Русский (Russian)
жизнеспособный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - viable

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - livsduglig

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
能养活的, 能生育的

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 能養活的, 能生育的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 생존 가능한, 존립할 수 있는

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 生存能力のある, 存立できる, 実行可能な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) قلبل للحياة, ذو حيويه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮יכול לחיות, מסוגל להתקיים, בן-חיים, בר-קיימא‬


 
 
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Copyrights:

American Heritage Dictionary. 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.  Read more
 Fowler's Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. © 1999, 2004 All rights reserved.  Read more
Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms by Answers.com. © 1999-present by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
 Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry. Oxford University Press. Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology © 1997, 2000, 2006 All rights reserved.  Read more
Saunders Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
 Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved.  Read more
Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary. Collins Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary © Anne Bradford, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008 HarperCollins Publishers All rights reserved.  Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

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