amiable
Americanadjective
-
having or showing pleasant, good-natured personal qualities; affable.
an amiable disposition.
- Synonyms:
- gracious
- Antonyms:
- rude
-
friendly; sociable.
an amiable greeting; an amiable gathering.
- Synonyms:
- amicable
- Antonyms:
- hostile, unfriendly
-
agreeable; willing to accept the wishes, decisions, or suggestions of another or others.
-
Obsolete. lovable or lovely.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- amiability noun
- amiableness noun
- amiably adverb
- quasi-amiable adjective
- quasi-amiably adverb
- unamiable adjective
- unamiableness noun
- unamiably adverb
Etymology
Origin of amiable
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin amīcābilis amicable
Explanation
A friendly, pleasant person could be described as amiable. Airline flight attendants tend to be amiable. The people monitoring the school's cafeteria? Maybe not. An amiable person is good-natured and easy to get along with. Add one letter and you get amicable, a word with a common ancestor (Latin amicabilis) and a similar meaning. But while amiable refers to friendly people, amicable refers to friendly relations between them; two amiable people who no longer want to be married to one another might have an amicable divorce.
Vocabulary lists containing amiable
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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All You Need is Love: Amor and Phil
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"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 1–6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For all his amiable composure, Ding has indulged in some hot-dogging.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
The previous head of the partnership, Kathy Wylde, held the position for 25 years and was an amiable voice for the city’s business community.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
Steven Lee Johnson’s Charlie, the dorky assistant sound engineer, is an amiable weirdo, though I missed the way Andrew R. Butler played him almost like a space alien in New York.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025
It is grim, sure, but Tracy’s sharp humor and Lanthimos’ snappy pacing and typically sumptuous style lend an amiable quality to such a dismal story.
From Salon • Oct. 31, 2025
This trip through the halls was slower, and Misha was a very amiable chaperone.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
