disputable

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Latin putus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin putō

Latin disputo

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin disputābilislbor.

English disputable

Learned borrowing from Latin disputābilis. By surface analysis, dispute +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈspjuː.tə.bəɫ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈspju.tə.bəɫ/

Adjective

disputable (comparative more disputable, superlative most disputable)

1. Of opinions, propositions or questions, subject to dispute; not settled.

Synonyms

• controvertible

Derived terms

• disputableness
• disputably
• indisputable
• undisputable

Related terms

• disputant
• disputation
• disputatious
• dispute

Translations

of opinions, propositions or questions, subject to dispute

• Belarusian: спрэчны (sprečny)
• Bulgarian: спорен (bg) (sporen)
• French: contestable (fr)
• Hungarian: vitatható (hu), vitás (hu), kétséges (hu), kétségbevonható (hu)
• Japanese: 疑わしい (ja) (うたがわしい, utagawashii)
• Kazakh: даулы (dawlı)
• Romanian: disputabil (ro)
• Russian: спорный (ru) (spornyj)
• Spanish: disputable
• Ukrainian: спірний (spirnyj)

Further reading

• “disputable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “disputable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dispuˈtable/ [d̪is.puˈt̪a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: dis‧pu‧ta‧ble

Adjective

disputable m or f (masculine and feminine plural disputables)

1. disputable

Related terms

• disputar

Further reading

• “disputable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025