convenable

English

Etymology

French convenable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈviːnəbəl/

Adjective

convenable (comparative more convenable, superlative most convenable)

1. Capable of being convened or assembled.
2. (obsolete) consistent; accordant; suitable; proper

   convenable remedies

   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Aegloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC; republished as The Shepheardes Calender […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], 1586, →OCLC:

     With his word his work is convenable.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “convenable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

French

Etymology

From convenir +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃v.nabl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -abl
• Homophone: convenables

Adjective

convenable (plural convenables)

1. appropriate; correct; usable
   • 1837 Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter I:

     Il lui parut convenable et nécessaire, aussi bien pour l’éclat de sa gloire que pour le service de son pays, de se faire chevalier errant, de s’en aller par le monde, avec son cheval et ses armes, chercher les aventures, et de pratiquer tout ce qu’il avait lu que pratiquaient les chevaliers errants, redressant toutes sortes de torts, et s’exposant à tant de rencontres, à tant de périls, qu’il acquît, en les surmontant, une éternelle renommée. Il s’imaginait déjà, le pauvre rêveur, voir couronner la valeur de son bras au moins par l’empire de Trébizonde. Ainsi emporté par de si douces pensées et par l’ineffable attrait qu’il y trouvait, il se hâta de mettre son désir en pratique.

     It seemed to him appropriate and necessary, as much for his own glory as for the service of his country, that he should become a knight-errant, and go about the world, with his horse and his weapons, looking for adventures, and practising everything that he had read that knights-errant practised, redressing all sorts of wrongs, and exposing themselves to so many encounters, to so many perils, that he should gain, in surmounting them, eternal fame. He already imagined himself, the poor dreamer, seeing himself crowned at least by the emperor of Trebizond. So taken away was he by such pleasant thoughts and by the ineffable attraction that he found in them, he hurried to put his desire into practice.

   • 1852, Constitution faite en vertu des pouvoirs délégués par le Peuple français à Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte Par le vote des 20 et 21 décembre 1851 [Constitution Made by Virtue of the Powers Delegated by the French People to Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte by the Vote of 20 and 21 December 1851], Paris: Imprimerie Schneider, page 22:

     Des citoyens que le président de la République juge convenable d’élever à la dignité de sénateur.

     The citizens that the President of the Republic adjudges appropriate to elevate to the dignity of Senator.

Further reading

• “convenable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.