Meaning & use

sustainable

adjective·Academic

Able to be maintained over time without depleting resources or causing lasting harm.

See it in a sentence

The farm switched to sustainable practices that protect the soil for future harvests.

Critics questioned whether the company's rapid growth was financially sustainable in the long run.

A note on using this word

Sustainable is used both environmentally, about resources and ecosystems, and more broadly, about any plan or pace that can continue without collapsing.

Words with a similar meaning

renewableviableeco-friendly

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

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