doubtable
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English doutable, from Old French doutable, dotable, equivalent to doubt + -able.
Adjective
editdoubtable (comparative more doubtable, superlative most doubtable)
- (uncommon) Capable of being doubted; doubtful; dubious; dubitable. See usage notes below.
- 1971, L. J. Swingle, “On Reading Romantic Poetry”, in PMLA, volume 86, number 5, page 976:
- Descartes adopts the tool of a radical skepticism, submitting to question established beliefs, exposing them to the test of doubt, breaking them down when they prove doubtable.
- (obsolete) Fearsome; redoubtable.
Usage notes
editPhilosophers often use "doubtable" in its literal sense of "capable of being doubted." In other scholarly and literary contexts, the more accepted direct synonym of "doubtable" is "dubitable." In all other usage, "doubtful" and "dubious" are far more common synonyms. See also dubious § Usage notes.
Synonyms
edit- (doubtful, dubious, capable of being doubted): uncertain
Coordinate terms
editDerived terms
editReferences
edit- doubtable in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
- “doubtable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “doubtable”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.