answerable

Adjective
US[an-ser-uh-buhl]/ˈænsɚəbəl/4 syllables
Synonyms: accountable

Open English WordNet

Adjective (3)

  1. capable of being answeredOpposite insolubleSimilar soluble
  2. morally or legally responsible to a higher authority“parents are answerable for their child's acts”Opposite irresponsibleSimilar responsible
  3. liable to account for one's actions“governments must be accountable to someone beside themselves”“fully accountable for what they did”“the court held the parents answerable for their minor child's acts of vandalism”“he was answerable to no one”Synonyms: accountableOpposite irresponsibleSimilar responsible

Related words answer verb, answerability noun, answerableness noun

Word of the day · Oct 15About this word
exemplaryadjective

What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

An′swer·a·ble (…), adjective

1. Obliged to answer; liable to be called to account; liable to pay, indemnify, or make good; accountable; amenable; responsible; as, an agent is answerable to his principal; to be answerable for a debt, or for damages.

Will any man argue that... he can not be justly punished, but is answerable only to God?— Jonathan Swift

2. Capable of being answered or refuted; admitting a satisfactory answer.

The argument, though subtle, is yet answerable.— Dr. Samuel Johnson

3. Correspondent; conformable; hence, comparable.

What wit and policy of man is answerable to their discreet and orderly course?— Philemon Holland
This revelation... was answerable to that of the apostle to the Thessalonians.— John Milton

4. Proportionate; commensurate; suitable; as, an achievement answerable to the preparation for it.

5. Equal; equivalent; adequate. archaic

Had the valor of his soldiers been answerable, he had reached that year, as was thought, the utmost bounds of Britain.— John Milton

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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