Meaning & use
likable
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Meaning
adjectivecomparable
Pleasant and easy to like because of a friendly or agreeable personality.
Grammar: Gradable; can be used with 'very' or in comparisons (more likable).
Patterns
- a likable person
- find someone likable
- seem likable
She has a likable personality that makes people feel at ease.
Despite his fame, he remained a likable and humble man.
The new teacher is strict but likable.
Word forms
| comparative | more likable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most likable |
Common combinations
- likable character
- The novel's protagonist is a likable character.
- likable personality
- Her likable personality wins friends easily.
- find someone likable
- I find him very likable.
- seem likable
- He seems likable at first meeting.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pleasant
- Pleasant can describe experiences or things, while likable usually describes people or their qualities.
- agreeable
- Agreeable suggests willingness to please, while likable focuses on being easy to like.
- charming
- Charming implies a strong, often deliberate appeal, while likable is more about a natural, friendly quality.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: likable or likeable?
likable vs likeable
Likeable is the British spelling; both are correct and mean the same.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'likable' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Likable describes a person's pleasant qualities; option 1 uses it for weather (which is unusual), option 2 uses it as a verb, and option 3 uses it as an adjective with 'to' incorrectly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “likable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.