veritable

See also: véritable

English

Etymology

From Middle French veritable, from Old French veritable, from Latin veritabilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛ.ɹɪ.tə.bl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

veritable (comparative more veritable, superlative most veritable)

1. True; genuine.

   He is a veritable genius.

   A fair is a veritable smorgasbord.

   (From Charlotte's Web).

   • 1942, Alfred Gallinek, “Psychogenic Disorders and the Civilization of the Middle Ages”, in The American Journal of Psychiatry, volume 99, number 1, page 47:

     The ideal man of the Middle Ages was free of all fear because he was sure of salvation, certain of eternal bliss. He was the saint, and the saint, not the knight nor the troubadour, is the veritable ideal of the Middle Ages.

2. As an intensifier: absolute, indisputable.
   • 2023, Clive Young, “chapter three: From Union to Devolution”, in Unlocking Scots: The Secret Life of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Luath Press Limited, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 75:

     From 1748, a veritable troop of elocution experts declared war on Scots diction, providing inspirational lectures, books and yet more lists for diligent anglophiles to memorise.

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *weh₁- (0 c, 22 e)

Anagrams

• avertible, rivetable

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin veritābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bə.ɾiˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [və.ɾiˈtab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ve.ɾiˈta.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

veritable m or f (masculine and feminine plural veritables)

1. real; true; veritable

   Synonyms: vertader, autèntic, real, legítim

Derived terms

• veritablement

Further reading

• “veritable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “veritable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “veritable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “veritable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French veritable.

Adjective

veritable m or f (plural veritables)

1. true; real; not fake

Descendants

• → English: veritable
• French: véritable

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin veritabilis. See also Catalan veritable.

Adjective

veritable m (oblique and nominative feminine singular veritable)

1. true; real; not fake
   • c. 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

     Li rois respont: "N'est mie fable,
     Ceste parole est veritable:

     The king responded "it is no fairytale
     this story is true["]

Descendants

• Middle French: veritable
  • → English: veritable
  • French: véritable