answerable
answerable Lexical Profile
answerable Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Required to explain or justify one's actions to a higher authority; legally or morally responsible for something.
"The department heads are directly answerable to the board of directors for their quarterly expenditures."
Capable of being answered, resolved, or refuted.
"With modern genomic data, many once-baffling evolutionary questions are now easily answerable."
Word Nuance & Usage
In the sense of 'accountable', 'answerable' is used predominantly as a predicate adjective followed by 'to' (indicating the authority) or 'for' (indicating the action or duty), as in 'answerable to parliament for the budget.'
• Rhymes for answerable
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the 16th century, formed in English from the verb 'answer' (from Old English 'andswaru', meaning a sworn statement in response to a charge) plus the suffix '-able'.