Meaning & use
palatable
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Tasting acceptable enough to eat or drink, though not necessarily delicious.
Grammar: Can follow a linking verb or come before a noun: the soup was palatable, a palatable meal.
Patterns
- palatable to someone
- make something palatable
The hospital food was not exciting, but it was palatable.
A little honey made the herbal tea more palatable.
The wine was cheap but palatable to most guests.
adjectivecomparablefigurative
Acceptable or easy for people to accept, said of an idea, plan or truth that might otherwise be unwelcome.
Grammar: Usually followed by to: a palatable compromise to both sides.
Patterns
- palatable to someone
- a palatable compromise
The council changed the proposal to make it more palatable to local residents.
Nobody found the new tax rule palatable.
She presented the bad news in a form that was palatable to the board.
Word forms
| comparative | more palatable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most palatable |
Common combinations
- palatable to the public
- The plan must be palatable to the public.
- make something palatable
- Sugar can make bitter medicine palatable.
- more palatable
- The revised version is much more palatable.
- barely palatable
- The coffee was barely palatable.
- palatable compromise
- They finally reached a palatable compromise.
Synonyms and how they differ
- edible
- Edible only says that food can be eaten without harm, while palatable adds that it tastes acceptable.
- acceptable
- Acceptable is broader and works for any standard, whereas palatable fits food or ideas that must be taken in.
- tasty
- Tasty is warmly positive, but palatable is a modest, lukewarm judgment.
Opposites
Word family
- palate noun
- the roof of the mouth, or a sense of taste
- unpalatable adjective
- unpleasant to taste or hard to accept
- palatability noun
- how acceptable something tastes
- palatably adverb
- in an acceptable-tasting or agreeable way
Commonly confused: palatable or flavorful? palatable or palette?
palatable vs flavorful
Flavorful means rich in taste; a dish can be palatable without being flavorful, and a plain meal may be only palatable.
palatable vs palette
A palette is a board or range of colors; it sounds the same as palate (taste) but has a different meaning and spelling.
Practice
Which sentence uses palatable in its figurative sense?
Choose one answer.
Only the third sentence applies palatable to an idea that must be accepted. The others concern the taste of food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “palatable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.