Meaning & use
personable
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Meaning
adjectivecomparableapproving
Easy to like because of a warm, friendly manner and a pleasant presence when meeting others.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a personable manager, she is personable.
Patterns
- a personable young man
- personable and professional
The new receptionist is personable and remembers every visitor's name.
He came across as personable in the interview, which helped him get the job.
A personable guide made the long walking tour enjoyable.
Word forms
| comparative | more personable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most personable |
Common combinations
- personable young man
- A personable young man welcomed us at the desk.
- personable and professional
- The sales team is both personable and professional.
- remarkably personable
- Despite his fame, he was remarkably personable.
- personable manner
- Her personable manner put the nervous patients at ease.
- seem personable
- The candidate seemed personable but hard to pin down on policy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- affable
- Affable stresses easy, relaxed friendliness in conversation, while personable also includes a pleasing overall presence.
- likeable
- Likeable is more general and can describe anyone people enjoy, while personable suits professional or social settings.
- charming
- Charming suggests deliberate appeal that can seem polished, whereas personable feels more natural and down to earth.
- amiable
- Amiable focuses on a kindly, good-tempered nature, with less about appearance or poise than personable.
Opposites
Word family
- person noun
- an individual human being
- personality noun
- the qualities that make someone's character
- personableness noun
- the quality of being personable, a rare word
- personably adverb
- in a friendly, pleasant way, a rare word
Commonly confused: personable or personal?
personable vs personal
Personal means belonging to or concerning one individual, as in a personal opinion. Personable means pleasant and likeable.
Practice
The hiring manager described the candidate as ______, meaning people would enjoy working with him.
Choose one answer.
Personable means pleasant and easy to like. 'Personal' means private, 'personnel' means staff, and 'persistent' means keeps going, so none of them describe likeability.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “personable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.