agreeable

English

Alternative forms

• agreable (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English agreable, from Old French agreable. Equivalent to agree +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈɡɹiːəbl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

agreeable (comparative more agreeable, superlative most agreeable)

1. Able to agree; possible to be agreed.
2. Pleasant to the senses or the mind.

   a man with agreeable manners

   not completely agreeable remarks

   she's quite an agreeable person

   This fruit has an agreeable taste

   • 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], The Vicar of Wakefield: , volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: B. Collins, for F Newbery, , →OCLC; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, 1885, →OCLC:

     the train of agreeable reveries.

3. (dated) Willing; ready to agree or consent.
   • 1529, Hugh Latimer, sermon in Cambridge:

     These Frenchmen give unto the said captain of Calais a great sum of money, so that he will be but content and agreeable that they may enter into the said town.

4. Agreeing or suitable; followed by to, or rarely by with.

   Synonyms: conformable, correspondent, concordant

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: , London: R Sare, , →OCLC:

     That which is Agreeable to the Nature of one thing, is many times Contrary to the Nature of another.

5. (used adverbially) Pursuant, conformant, accordant.

   Agreeable to the order of the day, the House took up the report.

   • 1883, Charles Colcock Jones, The History of Georgia: Revolutionary epoch:

     And I do not know of any Indian or Indians that have taken upon them to give up any lands to the White people other than agreeable to the treaty , nor would I accept of any but from the nation

Synonyms

• (pleasing, pleasant): See Thesaurus:pleasant
• (willing): See Thesaurus:acquiescent
• (conforming): See Thesaurus:agreeable

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

agreeable (plural agreeables)

1. Something pleasing; anything that is agreeable.
   • 1855, Blackwood's magazine, volume 77, page 331:

     The disagreeables of travelling are necessary evils, to be encountered for the sake of the agreeables of resting and looking round you.

Further reading

• “agreeable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “agreeable”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.