certifiable
certifiable Lexical Profile
certifiable Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Officially recognizable as mentally ill or, informally, behaving in an utterly foolish, eccentric, or irrational manner.
"Everyone thought he was certifiable when he decided to sail across the Atlantic in a homemade wooden boat."
Able or required to be officially verified, attested, or guaranteed as meeting a specified standard or legal requirement.
"The auditing firm confirmed that all financial records were accurate and fully certifiable under federal law."
Word Nuance & Usage
When applied to people without further specification, 'certifiable' almost exclusively carries the informal sense of being crazy or mentally unstable; use 'certified' instead when referring to someone who holds official professional credentials.
• Rhymes for certifiable
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed in the 18th century from the verb 'certify' (from Old French 'certifier' and Late Latin 'certificare', meaning 'to make certain') and the suffix '-able'. The psychiatric and colloquial sense emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from laws requiring official medical certification to commit a patient to an asylum.