nameable

Capable of being distinguished and named; able to be called by a specific name.

Adjective

  1. Capable of being distinguished and named; able to be called by a specific name.
    • 1635, Alexander Gill, The Sacred Philosophie of Holy Scripture, London: Joyce Norton and Richard Whitaker, Chapter 8, p. 30, [God’s] pure being, because it is neither understandable, nor nameable by us, we speake of...
    • Mr. Hyde […] gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation […] - 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Search for Mr. Hyde”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, page 25:
    • The vogue for the sleuth-flâneur […] in the first half of the twentieth century has encouraged recent attempts to map the rise of British detective fiction, and its subsequent love affair with the thriller, onto the...
  2. Worthy of being named or having a name; significant; memorable (especially in negative expressions).
    • […] the culture [of alfalfa] is not very expensive, though the profit is not nameable till the second or third year, when the cuttings are considerable […] - c. 1785, Josiah Ringsted, The Cattle-Keeper’s Assistant, 7th...
    • 1810, William Coleman, An Appeal to the People, New York: C.S. Van Winkle, p. 72, A mission hatched by Jefferson under the pretence of forming a commercial treaty, though we have neither trade of any nameable amount...

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ Proto-Germanic *namô Proto-West Germanic *namō Old English nama Middle English name English name Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English nameable From name + -able.

Forms

namable

Synonyms

distinguishable identifiable recognisable notable

Antonyms

nameless unidentifiable unnameable unrecognisable forgettable irrelevant

Derived

nameableness nameably