serviceable
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English servisable, from Old French servisable, from servise. By surface analysis, service + -able.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɝvɪsəbl̩/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɜːvɪsəbl̩/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Adjective
[edit]serviceable (comparative more serviceable, superlative most serviceable)
- Easy to service.
- Repairable instead of disposable.
- In condition for use.
- 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
- I employed myself in making, as well as I could, a great many baskets, both to carry earth or to carry or lay up anything, as I had occasion; and though I did not finish them very handsomely, yet I made them sufficiently serviceable for my purpose...
- 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:
- There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
- 1964 November, “Motive Power Miscellany: Southern Region”, in Modern Railways, page 368:
- The shortage of serviceable SR steam power has also led to the use of the surviving Q1 0-6-0s on passenger duties, particularly on the Horsham-Guildford service.
- 2020 October 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0-1 Denmark: 'Harry Maguire looked devoid of confidence in Nations League loss'”, in BBC Sport[1]:
- Maguire was always extravagantly priced at £80m but a player who is a solid and serviceable Premier League defender and has become one of England manager Gareth Southgate's most trusted squad members now looks hopelessly out of form.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]easy to service
|
repairable instead of disposable
|
in condition for use
|
Anagrams
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Adjective
[edit]serviceable
- Alternative form of servisable
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms suffixed with -able
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives