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palatable

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

WOTD – 22 October 2009

Alternative forms

Etymology

From palate +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

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:
      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:
      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:
      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.

Translations

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