MUTABLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mutable mean? 

• MUTABLE (adjective)
  The adjective MUTABLE has 3 senses:

1. capable of or tending to change in form or quality or nature

2. prone to frequent change; inconstant

3. tending to undergo genetic mutuation

  Familiarity information: MUTABLE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MUTABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of or tending to change in form or quality or nature

Synonyms:

changeable; mutable

Context example:

a mutable foreign policy

Antonym:

immutable (not subject or susceptible to change or variation in form or quality or nature)

Derivation:

mutability; mutableness (the quality of being capable of mutation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prone to frequent change; inconstant

Context example:

the mutable ways of fortune

Similar:

inconstant (likely to change frequently often without apparent or cogent reason; variable)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tending to undergo genetic mutuation

Context example:

It is likely, too, that the chromosomes of all eubacteria are as mutable as that of E. coli

Similar:

changeable; changeful (such that alteration is possible; having a marked tendency to change)

 Context examples 

How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

These UGR researchers have produced more than five joint scientific publications in high-impact journals and have secured two patents—on mechano-mutable asphalt (PCT/ES2014/071002) and pavement safety systems (P201631096).

(Scientists design “smart” asphalts with magnetic materials for safer electric scooters, University of Granada)

You are a mutable sign, which means you are inherently flexible, so you, more than most, will be able to adjust and decide the next steps quickly.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

This ice is not made of such stuff as your hearts may be; it is mutable and cannot withstand you if you say that it shall not.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)