acceptable
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Barely worthy, less than excellent.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aksehptuhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ækˈsɛptəbəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Worthy, decent, sure of being accepted or received with at least moderate pleasure.
Barely worthy, less than excellent; passable.
noun
Someone or something that is acceptable.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Worthy, decent, sure of being accepted or received with at least moderate pleasure.
'Acceptable' means good enough or satisfactory, but not necessarily outstanding. It often implies meeting a minimum standard. If something is 'acceptable,' it's okay, but not 'excellent.'
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where you'll really hear it
Restaurant review
“The food was acceptable, but nothing special.”
School report card
“His performance in math was quite acceptable this semester.”
Customer service
“We consider this a perfectly acceptable solution to your problem.”
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use acceptable
- “Acceptable levels of radiation.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
In the formation of a coordinate bond it is the compound to which electrons are donated.
The mental attitude that something is believable and should be accepted as true.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.