palatable

English

WOTD – 22 October 2009

Alternative forms

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-?
Proto-Indo-European *pel-?
Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-osder.
Latin palātumder.
Old French palatbor.
Middle English palate
English palate
Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom
Proto-Italic *-ðlom
Proto-Italic *-ðlis
Latin -bilis
Latin -ābilis
Old French -ablebor.
Middle English -able
English -able
English palatable

    From palate + -able.

    Pronunciation

    • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈpæl.ə.tə.bəl/
      • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):(file)
    • Audio (Australia):(file)

    Adjective

    palatable (comparative more palatable, superlative most palatable)

    1. Pleasing to the taste, tasty.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:delicious
      Antonym: unpalatable
      For some instant noodles make a palatable, if not especially nutritious, meal.
      • 1896, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Household Papers and Stories‎[1]:
        The fermentation of flour by means of brewer’s or distiller’s yeast produces, if rightly managed, results far more palatable and wholesome.
    3. (figurative) Tolerable, acceptable.
      The agreement was palatable to both of them.
      • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter X, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 188:
        “I did hear, too, that there was a time, when sermon-making was not so palateable to you, as it seems to be at present; […]”
      • 2016 January 31, William D. Cohan, “Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?”, in Vanity Fair‎[2], archived from the original on 27 September 2026:
        Whether it’s palatable for the vice-chairman of Hillary’s presidential campaign to be embroiled in allegations of conflicts of interest, obtaining patronage jobs, or misrepresenting time worked remains to be seen.
      • 2020 December 13, David Smith, “AOC's cooking live streams perfect the recipe for making politics palatable”, in The Guardian:
        AOC's [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] cooking live streams perfect the recipe for making politics palatable [title]
      • 2024 March 18, Bryan Dyne, “The suspicious “suicide” of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett”, in World Socialist Web Site‎[3], archived from the original on 11 April 2026:
        In every case, a story is worked out by the corporate media that is politically palatable for the bourgeoisie: car crash, robbery gone wrong, suicide by hanging. There is no serious investigation or follow-up, whether by the police or those purporting to call themselves “journalists.”

    Usage notes

    Outside the UK, many speakers might take (sense 2) to be the basic meaning of palatable, so that "palatable food" would be understood as edible but not great rather than tasty, and "palatable wine" as drinkable rather than tasty.

    Derived terms

    Translations

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