adaptability
English
Etymology
From adaptable + -ity or adapt + -ability.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˌdæptəˈbɪlɪti/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- (General American, Canada, Australia) IPA(key): /əˌdæptəˈbɪləti/, [əˌdæp.təˈbɪl.ə.ɾi]
Audio (Canada): (file)
Noun
adaptability (countable and uncountable, plural adaptabilities)
- The quality of being adaptable; a quality that renders adaptable.
- Synonym: adaptableness
- Coordinate terms: adaptiveness, adaptivity
- 2020 June 30, Spencer Wright, “My fraternity taught me the secret to surviving a pandemic”, in CNN[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 1 August 2026:
- But the real test of my adaptability came senior year, when I became chapter president of DKA.
- (biology) Variability in respect to, or under the influence of, external conditions; susceptibility of an organism to that variation whereby it becomes suited to or fitted for its conditions of environment; the capacity of an organism to be modified by circumstances.
- 2023 September 26, Hafsa Khalil, “Electric blue tarantula species discovered in Thailand”, in CNN[2], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 6 October 2023:
- Typically, tarantulas are either terrestrial or arboreal, but the Chilobrachys natanicharum can live in both enivronments[sic – meaning environments], the researchers said, demonstrating its adaptability.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
quality of being adaptable; a quality that renders adaptable
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variability in respect to, or under the influence of, external conditions
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References
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “adaptability”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *h₂éd
- English terms suffixed with -ability
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ep- (join)
- English compound terms
- English terms suffixed with -ity
- English 6-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Biology