construable

[ kuhn-stroo-uh-buhl ]

adjective

1. capable of being construed.

Other Words From

• con·strua·bili·ty noun
• noncon·strua·bili·ty noun
• noncon·strua·ble adjective
• uncon·strua·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of construable¹

First recorded in 1650–60; construe + -able

Example Sentences

This further suggests that canine species in general are able to use specific types of vocalizations based on what types of animals they are around, indicating that they have an inner self which might in other contexts be vocalized in a manner construable as "singing."

From Salon

It has been repurposed to explain both institutional disenfranchisement and racial self-estrangement — an explanation for the behavior of black people who seem to be under white control, based on either their sustained proximity to whiteness or statements construable as anti-black, or probably both.

From New York Times

According to Steven Franconeri, professor of cognitive psychology and principal investigator of Northwestern University’s Visual Thinking Lab, biology makes some of these formats less construable than others.

From Washington Post

Do you know, also, that in the event of my being the one to go under, one single word construable into an arrangement of the meeting, uttered by you over here would be enough to hang you as surely as if you had cut a man’s throat to steal his watch?”

From Project Gutenberg

Again, the spectacle of his back which he vouchsafed to Moses is construable only as an arri�re-pens�e, unless it be profound philosophy, unless it be taken that the face of God represents Providence, to see which would be to behold the future, whereas the back disclosed the past.

From Project Gutenberg