Skip to main content
sayable

sayable

6.2
Acceptable to express aloud in a situation
  • adjective
  • /ˈseɪəbl/
translation icon : decible
  • In this context, the message was completely sayable and welcomed by everyone at the meeting.

Examples

  • The teacher always emphasizes that all feedback should be sayable to create a respectful atmosphere.

  • She shared a sayable opinion that encouraged open discussion among her peers.

  • I want to thank the audience and I want the take away line to be all that is sayable is hearable.

  • However, it is clear that many African artists, working across diverse social and market frameworks, are creating potent images that are a "complex intersection of the seeable, the sayable, and the palpable" (Mitchell 1994:224).

    Academic text (2007)

Synonyms

unobjectionable
vssayable
1 5.2

Not likely to upset or offend people

is about being proper to express in a particular social context
tellable
vssayable
5.1

Possible to share with other people by speaking

focuses on being proper to express in a specific social situation
nonoffensive
vssayable
3.8

Does not upset people and avoids rude or hurtful words

is about being appropriate or allowed to voice in specific social settings

Antonyms

offensive
  • Offensive
261 4.0

Likely to make people angry or upset

100 4.1

Not suitable according to normal rules or standards

How Appropriate

acceptable
477 2.5
sayable
6.2
inappropriate
354 3.7
taboo
39 5.2
unsayable
  • NSFW
9.3

Surface Forms

sayable positive

Morphology

sayable = say (semi-transparent) = say + able

Built from 'say' + '-able' but extended to a pragmatic sense of social permissibility, which is a figurative/pragmatic extension learners might not infer immediately.

Etymology

Sayable comes from say ('speak') plus -able ('able to'), so to call something sayable is to mean it is 'okay' or 'allowed' to say in that place or situation.