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viable - 6 dictionary results

vi⋅a⋅ble

  [vahy-uh-buhl]
Use viable in a Sentence
–adjective
1. capable of living.
2. Physiology.
a. physically fitted to live.
b. (of a fetus) having reached such a stage of development as to be capable of living, under normal conditions, outside the uterus.
3. Botany. able to live and grow.
4. vivid; real; stimulating, as to the intellect, imagination, or senses: a period of history that few teachers can make viable for students.
5. practicable; workable: a viable alternative.
6. having the ability to grow, expand, develop, etc.: a new and viable country.
Origin:
1820–30; < F, equiv. to vie life (< L vīta) + -able -able

Related forms:
vi⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun
vi⋅a⋅bly, adverb

Synonyms:
5. practical, feasible, usable, adaptable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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vi·a·ble   (vī'ə-bəl)   
adj.  
  1. Capable of living, developing, or germinating under favorable conditions.
  2. Capable of living outside the uterus. Used of a fetus or newborn.
  3. Capable of success or continuing effectiveness; practicable: a viable plan; a viable national economy. See Synonyms at possible.

[French, from vie, life, from Old French, from Latin vīta; see gwei- in Indo-European roots.]
vi'a·bil'i·ty n., vi'a·bly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Viable

Vi"a*ble\, a. [F., from vie life, L. vita. See Vital.] (Law) Capable of living; born alive and with such form and development of organs as to be capable of living; -- said of a newborn, or a prematurely born, infant.

Note: Unless he [an infant] is born viable, he acquires no rights, and can not transmit them to his heirs, and is considered as if he had never been born. --Bouvier.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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viable 
1828, from Fr. viable "capable of life" (1539), from vie "life" (from L. vita "life;" see vital) + -able. Originally of newborn infants; generalized sense is first recorded 1848.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: vi·a·ble
Pronunciation: 'vI-&-b&l
Function: adjective
1 : capable of living viable> <viable cancer cells>; especially : having attained such form and development of organs as to be normally capable of living outside the uterus—often used of a human fetus at seven months but may be interpreted according to the state of the art of medicine viable fetus is one sufficiently developed for extrauterine survival—Words & Phrases> viable when it weighs 500 grams or more and the pregnancy is over 20 weeks in duration —S. W. Jacob & C. A.Francone>
2 : capable of growing or developing <viable eggs>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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viable vi·a·ble (vī'ə-bəl)
adj.

  1. Capable of living, developing, or germinating under favorable conditions.
  2. Capable of living outside the uterus. Used of a fetus or newborn.
vi'a·bil'i·ty n.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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