English Explanatory Dictionary

personable

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Of a person: having a pleasing appearance; attractive; handsome.
  2. Of a person: having a pleasant manner; amiable, friendly.
  3. Synonym of personal (“done in person, without an intermediary”).
  4. Being a legal person and thus able to maintain a plea in court, or to hold some property or right.

Pronunciation

/ˈpɜːsn̩əbl/ /ˈpɜːs(ə)nəbəl/ En-uk-personable.ogg /ˈpɜɹs(ə)nəb(ə)l/

Word forms

personable more personable most personable parsonable personible

Etymology

From Late Middle English personable, personabil (“having a pleasing appearance, handsome”), and then from both of the following: * For sense 1 (“having a pleasing appearance”) and sense 2 (“having a pleasant manner”) (these senses are not found in Old French or Medieval Latin), probably from person, personne, persoun (“individual, person”) + -āble (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’ forming adjectives). * For sense 3.1 (“synonym of personal”) and sense 3.2 (“being a legal person”), from Middle French personable and Old French personable, and from their etymon Medieval Latin personābilis (“personal”), possibly from Medieval Latin persōna (“person”) + Latin -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’). By surface analysis, person + -able (suffix meaning ‘relevant or suitable to’).

Synonyms

good-looking attractive beauteous beautifool beautiful beautimous bona vardering bonnie breathtaking captivating comely cute divine esculent exquisite fair fetching fine-looking good enough to eat handsome heavenly knockout lovely lovesome lustrious nice nice-looking personable pretty prettiful pulchritudinous shapely sheen sightly stunning swanlike well-favoured winsome affable agreeable likeable affectionate amiable bonhomous amicable chummy companionable congenial cordial facile familiar friendly genial hospitable matey simpatico welcoming personal

Antonyms

unattractive unpersonable bad beat butters butt-ugly clapped coyote ugly deform fuckfaced fugly hideous homely like the back end of a bus plug-ugly repulsive ugly ugly as sin uncomely unsightly unpretty adverse antagonistic conflicting contentious counteracting hostile incompatible inharmonious inimical irreconcilable opposed repugnant unbefriending unfriendly unharmonious unpartial

Derived words

impersonable personability personableness personably unpersonable
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