tractable

American  

[trak-tuh-buhl] / ˈtræk tə bəl /

adjective

1. easily managed or controlled; docile; yielding.

   a tractable child; a tractable disposition.

   Synonyms:

   governable, willing, manageable

   Antonyms:

   stubborn

2. easily worked, shaped, or otherwise handled; malleable.

---

tractable British  

/ ˈtræktəbəl /

adjective

1. easily controlled or persuaded

2. readily worked; malleable

---

Other Word Forms

• nontractability noun
• nontractable adjective
• nontractableness noun
• nontractably adverb
• tractability noun
• tractableness noun
• tractably adverb
• untractability noun
• untractable adjective
• untractableness noun
• untractably adverb

Etymology

Origin of tractable

1495–1505; < Latin tractābilis, equivalent to tractā ( re ) to handle, deal with (frequentative of trahere to draw) + -bilis -ble

Example Sentences

The question whether we’re building conscious machines is scientifically tractable.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 25, 2025

“Social media is the problem, and it’s really the algorithms” provides a very simple and tractable solution, which is that you fix the algorithms.

From Salon • Oct. 25, 2024

The authors suggest that deciding on a tractable size for prescribed burns, and predicting the characteristic results, could be aided by looking at the data on medium-sized fires in each vegetation type.

From Science Daily • Dec. 4, 2023

“Keeping the focus narrow is often important to making a project or scientific analysis tractable, and I don’t consider that ‘leaving out truth’ unless intended to mislead — certainly not my goal,” he wrote.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2023

Bulls which had always been tractable suddenly turned savage, sheep broke down hedges and devoured the clover, cows kicked the pail over, hunters refused their fences and shot their riders on to the other side.

From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell