SUITABLE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does suitable mean? 

• SUITABLE (adjective)
  The adjective SUITABLE has 2 senses:

1. meant or adapted for an occasion or use

2. worthy of being chosen especially as a spouse

  Familiarity information: SUITABLE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUITABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Meant or adapted for an occasion or use

Synonyms:

suitable; suited

Context example:

not an appropriate (or fit) time for flippancy

Similar:

fit (meeting adequate standards for a purpose)

Derivation:

suitability; suitableness (the quality of having the properties that are right for a specific purpose)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Worthy of being chosen especially as a spouse

Synonyms:

desirable; suitable; worthy

Context example:

the parents found the girl suitable for their son

Similar:

eligible (qualified for or allowed or worthy of being chosen)

Derivation:

suitableness (the quality of having the properties that are right for a specific purpose)

 Context examples 

They just bide their time until environmental conditions return that are suitable for them.

(Changing salt marsh conditions send resident microbes into dormancy, NSF)

The paper does not claim life on Mars did exist but rather that conditions suitable for life are very likely to have lasted for an extended time.

(Study suggests Mars hosted life-sustaining habitat for millions of years, Wikinews)

He said to himself, “I will give her to the first suitable man who comes and asks for her hand.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It was two o'clock before we found a suitable opportunity for our attempt.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I would entreat them not to dismiss your request, without a reference to Dora; and to discuss it with her when they should think the time suitable.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Over time, global climates have cooled considerably, and the ancestors of modern turacos gradually shifted their range to more suitable areas.

(Past climate change pushed birds from the northern hemisphere to the tropics, University of Cambridge)

Similarly, a document indicating that a product or process is suitable or in working order for a specific purpose.

(Certificate, NCI Thesaurus)

Select candidate vaccines or concepts suitable for Phase I and Phase II trials and conduct these trials.

(Phase I and II Vaccine Trials, NCI Thesaurus)

Select suitable vaccine candidates and support efficacy trials when appropriate criteria are met.

(Phase III Large Scale Vaccine Trial, NCI Thesaurus)

Pharmaceutical excipients do not affect therapeutic effects of the preparation or suitable tests or assays.

(Pharmaceutical Excipient, NCI Thesaurus)