decidable

[ dih-sahy-duh-buhl ]

adjective

1. capable of being decided. decided.
2. Logic. (of an axiom, proposition, etc.) having the property that its consistency or inconsistency with the axioms of a given logical system is determinable.

Other Words From

• de·cida·bili·ty noun
• unde·cida·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of decidable¹

First recorded in 1585–95; decide + -able

Example Sentences

In some ways, it is the only argument worth having, since the specific cases are not decidable in advance in one way or another.

From The New Yorker

If you impose any limit, even the lifetime of the universe, then it is decidable, although in practice, that is not much better than if it were not.

From Scientific American

Part of it was about maximum tax rates, a clear and decidable issue.

From New York Times

This so-called Boolean satisfiability problem is decidable, but it remains an extraordinarily difficult logical problem.

From Slate

In like manner, "Intellect and Virtue," how they are proportional, or are indeed one gift in us, the same great summary of gifts; and again, "Might and Right," the identity of these two, if a man will understand this God's-Universe, and that only he who conforms to the law of it can in the long-run have any "might:" all this, at the first blush, often awakened Sterling's musketry upon me, and many volleys I have had to stand,—the thing not being decidable by that kind of weapon or strategy.

From Project Gutenberg