Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Capable of being handled, touched, or felt; tangible: "Anger rushed out in a palpable wave through his arms and legs” ( Herman Wouk).
- adj. Easily perceived; obvious: "There was a palpable sense of expectation in the court” ( Nelson DeMille). See Synonyms at perceptible.
- adj. Medicine That can be felt by palpating: a palpable tumor.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- That may be felt; perceptible by the touch; manifest to sight or touch; hence, appearing as if it might be touched or felt.
- Hence Plain; evident; obvious; easily perceived or detected: as, palpable lies; a palpable mistake.
- In medicine, perceptible by palpation. Synonyms Tangible.
Wiktionary
- adj. Capable of being touched, felt or handled; touchable, tangible.
- adj. Obvious or easily perceived; noticeable.
- adj. medicine That can be detected by palpation.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Capable of being touched and felt; perceptible by the touch.
- adj. Easily perceptible; plain; distinct; obvious; readily perceived and detected; gross.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. can be felt by palpation
- adj. capable of being perceived; especially capable of being handled or touched or felt
Etymologies
- From Middle French palpable and its source, Latin palpābilis. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin palpābilis, from Latin palpāre, to touch gently. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Seeing the fields rimmed by trees or the homey, rundown tavern really makes the earth and the rain palpable to the reader.”
The Color of Earth, The Color of Water, The Color of Heaven » Manga Worth Reading
“A familiar aura of sweetness and loss reminiscent of Salinger is palpable from the first pages of the book, when we meet Jane's older brother Henry, who, by introducing his "mature" girlfriend to the family has indelibly altered the paradigm of familial relationships with which young Jane is accustomed.”
The Girl's Guide To Hunting & Fishing by Melissa Bank: Questions
“So palpable is this fact that we have commonly accepted it, and taken it for granted that this relation must be a continuous source of trouble to humanity.”
“The same is palpable from the sphere here assigned to him.”
“Quenched, inhuman, his fingers upon her unrevealed nudity were the fingers of silence upon silence, the body of mysterious night upon the body of mysterious night, the night masculine and feminine, never to be seen with the eye, or known with the mind, only known as a palpable revelation of living otherness.”
“This we would call a palpable lie were not so much of _The Bible in Spain_ sheer invention.”
“Being conversant with it in my master's family, it was an easy matter for me to coin a palpable lie -- so, whenever I was asked where I was going, and what my business was, (as was often the case) my invariable answer was, that I was looking for a stray horse which had broken from my master's fields.”
“The tension between them is palpable, if the definition of "palpable" is: You can see it on TV.”
“The feeling of negativity in the market is palpable, which is why one needs to respect the possibility of a counter-trend rally of decent size in the near term that is fueled by short-covering activity.”
“Mofokeng recalls the palpable confusion and fear that ensued.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘palpable’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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Words from Blood Meridian
visage, affray, scullery, miasma, mirth, purlieu, tacit, benighted, wickiup, corral, amble, accoutre and 210 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 more...
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EU Buzz - single words (1+2+3)
1. Strictly EU terms with special European meaning used only in the EU
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2. Keywords central to the understanding of the EU (people working for the EU are usually able to give thematic...acceleration, action, additionality, administrator, agenda, agricultural, agri-environmental, agriflation, agri-food, applicant, approach, assent and 1325 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
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Favorite Words
Fun words that are interesting and arresting.
Ort, unctuous, panoply, defenestrate, palpable, ubiquitous, flagellate, serendipitous, epiphanic, constructivist, amuse bouche, sobriquet and 30 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Vocab_TC60Q_txtbook
most vocab in the textbook Page till end chapter 2.
forfeited, nullifying, avowed, libelous, sapped, fascistic, outclassed, revolting, ecumenical, looming, fretful, penitent and 86 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1901 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 222 more...
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Words from Moby Dick
frigate, presumptuous, genteel, succor, hearthstone, gentry, factitious, bilious, insurgent, portent, enervate, genuflect and 303 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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