- viable
- \ \ see VITAL
Word origins - 2ed. J. Ayto. 2005.
viable
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viable — [ vjabl ] adj. • 1537; de vie 1 ♦ Apte à vivre (⇒ 2. viabilité). Après le 180e jour de la grossesse, l enfant est légalement reconnu viable. Hybrides viables mais inféconds. 2 ♦ Qui présente les conditions nécessaires pour durer, se développer. ⇒ … Encyclopédie Universelle
viable — vi‧a‧ble [ˈvaɪəbl] adjective 1. a viable plan, system, suggestion etc is realistic and therefore may succeed: • We had two months to come up with a viable proposal for saving the factory. • If investors find that approach viable, there are no… … Financial and business terms
viable — [vī′ə bəl] adj. [Fr, likely to live < vie, life < L vita: see VITAL] 1. able to live; specif., a) having developed sufficiently within the uterus to be able to live and continue normal development outside the uterus [a premature but viable… … English World dictionary
viable — adj. embriol. Dícese del feto recién nacido que dado su grado de desarrollo, es capaz de vivir fuera del útero. Medical Dictionary. 2011. viable … Diccionario médico
Viable — Vi a*ble, a. [F., from vie life, L. vita. See {Vital}.] (Law) Capable of living; born alive and with such form and development of organs as to be capable of living; said of a newborn, or a prematurely born, infant. [1913 Webster] Note: Unless he… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
viable — I adjective acceptable, actable, alive, appropriate, apt, capable of development, capable of growth, conceivable, doable, effective, effectual, efficacious, encouraging, expedient, favorable, feasible, functional, imaginable, legitimate, likely,… … Law dictionary
viable — (adj.) 1828, from Fr. viable capable of life (1530s), from vie life (from L. vita life; see VITAL (Cf. vital)) + ABLE (Cf. able). Originally of newborn infants; generalized sense is first recorded 1848 … Etymology dictionary
viable — is a 19c 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 19c, but it was not until the 1940s that it became a vogue word applied to a whole… … Modern English usage
viable — [adj] reasonable, practicable applicable, doable, feasible, operable, possible, usable, within possibility, workable; concepts 552,560 Ant. impossible, unachievable, unpractical, unreasonable … New thesaurus
viable — ► ADJECTIVE 1) capable of working successfully; feasible. 2) Biology (of a plant, animal, or cell) capable of surviving or living successfully. DERIVATIVES viability noun viably adverb. ORIGIN French, from vie life … English terms dictionary
viable — 01. Wind generated power is not yet financially [viable] on a large scale in this country. 02. Grains of wheat discovered in the great pyramids of Egypt were found to still be [viable] thousands of years after they were placed there. 03. The… … Grammatical examples in English
