countable

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English countable, equivalent to count (to enumerate) +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈkaʊn.tə.bəl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈkaʊn.tə.bəl/, [ˈkʰãʊ̯̃n.(ɾ)ə.bɫ̩]
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊntəbəl
  • Hyphenation: count‧a‧ble

Adjective

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countable (not comparable)

  1. Capable of being counted; having a quantity.
    Antonym: uncountable
  2. (mathematics, of a set) finite or countably infinite; having a one-to-one correspondence (bijection) with a subset of the natural numbers.
    Antonym: uncountable
  3. (mathematics, of a set) Countably infinite; having a bijection with the natural numbers.
    Synonym: denumerable
  4. (grammar, of a noun) Freely usable with the indefinite article and with numbers.
    Antonym: uncountable
    • 2014, James Lambert, “Diachronic stability in Indian English lexis”, in World Englishes, page 112:
      In these extracts the word abuse is used in the sense of ‘an individual piece of invective’ or ‘an abusive comment’ and is clearly a countable noun.

Usage notes

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The mathematics sense by which finite sets are countable is more common than the sense by which finite sets are not countable. To avoid ambiguity, the terms at most countable or countably infinite may be used.

Antonyms

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Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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countable (plural countables)

  1. (grammar) A countable noun.

See also

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