COMPATIBILITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does compatibility mean? 

• COMPATIBILITY (noun)
  The noun COMPATIBILITY has 2 senses:

1. a feeling of sympathetic understanding

2. capability of existing or performing in harmonious or congenial combination

  Familiarity information: COMPATIBILITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMPATIBILITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A feeling of sympathetic understanding

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("compatibility" is a kind of...):

fellow feeling; sympathy (sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Capability of existing or performing in harmonious or congenial combination

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("compatibility" is a kind of...):

characteristic (a distinguishing quality)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "compatibility"):

congeniality; congenialness (compatibility between persons)

harmoniousness; harmony (compatibility in opinion and action)

accord (sympathetic compatibility)

agreement; correspondence (compatibility of observations)

Antonym:

incompatibility (the quality of being unable to exist or work in congenial combination)

Derivation:

compatible (able to exist and perform in harmonious or agreeable combination)

 Context examples 

These offer limited compatibility with the skin in many circumstances, are damaged when washed and are uncomfortable to wear because they are not breathable.

(Washable, wearable battery-like devices could be woven directly into clothes, University of Cambridge)

Tests conducted to assess the mechanical, electrical, or electronic compatibility of two or more devices.

(Device to Device Interaction Testing Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

MHC is critical to health and fitness, such that MHC genotype may predict an individual's quality or compatibility as a competitor, ally or mate.

(Lemurs can smell whether a mate's immune genes are a good match, National Science Foundation)

A group of linked loci, collectively termed H-2 complex in the mouse and HLA complex in humans, that codes for cell-surface histocompatibility antigens and is the principal determinant of tissue type and transplant compatibility.

(Major Histocompatibility Complex Gene, NCI Thesaurus)