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adjustable

UK/əˈd͡ʒʌstəbəl/US/əˈd͡ʒʌstəbəl/
adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,786 of 15,258leans written

Adjustable means able to be altered to suit the person using it. Chairs, straps, spanners and mortgages.

It is a selling point on almost anything worn or sat in, since an adjustable strap fits more people and an adjustable chair prevents a great deal of back trouble. Tools use it precisely, and an adjustable spanner has a jaw that widens. Finance has adjustable rates, which move with the market and are called variable in Britain. The verb is adjust and the noun is adjustment.

Definitions of adjustable

  1. 1adjectiveadjustableAble to be altered to suit different needs or sizes.C1

    “The straps are fully adjustable.”

Where it comes from

  1. Vulgar Latin

    *adiuxtāre

  2. Old French

    ajouster

  3. Latin

    ad — to, up to, towards

  4. Middle French

    adjuster

  5. Middle English

    ajusten

  6. English

    adjust

  7. English, today

    adjustable

Built from

  • iustus · Latin — correct, proper, exact

From adjust + -able. adjust comes from Middle English ajusten, borrowed from Middle French adjuster, or Old French -, from Latin ad (“to, up to, towards”) + iustus (“correct, proper, exact”); Equivalent to ad + just. Probably influenced in sense by Old French ajouster (cf. modern ajouter), from Vulgar Latin adiuxtāre, from Latin iuxta. The Middle English originally meant "to correct, remedy" in the late 14th century, and was reborrowed from Middle French in the early 17th century. According to another view on the etymology, the word was actually derived from Old French ajouster and then supposedly later influenced by folk etymology from Latin iustus; if so, it is a a doublet of adjute.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 9 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

adjustable in the wild

  • The slippery eight loop is an adjustable loop knot discovered by Dave Poston in 2002.

    Slippery eight loop

  • The taut-line hitch is an adjustable loop knot for use on lines under tension.

    Taut-line hitch

  • Standing desks are designed to be of adjustable height so they can be used while sitting, or crafted to a height that can only be used while standing.

    Standing desk

  • A fireman's chair knot (also known as the chair knot) is a knot tied in the bight forming two adjustable, lockable loops.

    Fireman's chair knot

  • The loops remain adjustable until the half hitches are tightened.

    Fireman's chair knot

1 / 3

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the iustus family

justice

adjustable — used about once every 10,786 pages · #11,786 · point at the bar for the others

  • adjustment