PREDICTABLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does predictable mean? 

• PREDICTABLE (adjective)
  The adjective PREDICTABLE has 1 sense:

1. capable of being foretold

  Familiarity information: PREDICTABLE used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREDICTABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Capable of being foretold

Similar:

foreseeable (capable of being anticipated)

inevitable (invariably occurring or appearing)

Also:

certain; sure (certain to occur; destined or inevitable)

Antonym:

unpredictable (not capable of being foretold)

Derivation:

predictability (the quality of being predictable)

 Context examples 

Workers’ microbiomes appear to change in a highly predictable fashion, especially with age.

(Species Shifts in the Honey Bee Microbiome Differ with Age and Hive Role, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Because their rapid pulse of radio emission is so predictable, a large array of well-understood pulsars can be used to measure extremely subtle abnormalities, such as gravitational waves.

(Listening for Gravitational Waves Using Pulsars, NASA)

The efference-copy dampens the brain's response to self-generated vocalisations, giving less mental resources to these sounds, because they are so predictable.

(Talking to Ourselves And Voices in Our Heads, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This complex but predictable pattern, called an orbital resonance, occurs when planets exert a regular, periodic gravitational tug on each other as they orbit their star.

(Astronomers Confirm Orbital Details of TRAPPIST-1’s Least Understood Planet, NASA)

Some scientists predict that El Niño might concentrate in the Pacific without traversing its lengths, while others suggest its pattern may become less predictable.

(El Niño linked to widespread crop failures, SciDev.Net)

A small molecule that reacts with a known target in a predictable way, thereby showing location, identification, physiological state, etc.

(Chemical Probe, NCI Thesaurus)

Discerning a predictable pattern for which Martian years will have planet-encircling or global storms has been a challenge.

(Study Predicts Next Global Dust Storm on Mars, NASA)

Dominant meerkats typically die due to internal stresses on their bodies, resulting in gradual, predictable declines until death.

(Breeder meerkats age faster, but their subordinates still die younger, University of Cambridge)

Making genetic improvements that were difficult or impossible before will be much easier because we can now insert not just one or two genes, but multiple genes, into a plant in a way that will lead to predictable outcomes.

(Innovative Approach to Breeding Could Mean Higher Yields and Better Crops, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This allows the brain to discriminate between the predictable sounds that we have produced ourselves, and the less predictable sounds that are produced by other people.

(Talking to Ourselves And Voices in Our Heads, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)