amiable

adjective

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ami·a·ble | \ ˈā-mē-ə-bəl

Definition of amiable

1a : friendly, sociable, and congenial an amiable host amiable neighbors

b : generally agreeable an amiable comedy

2 archaic : pleasing, admirable

Other Words from amiable Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym The Roots of Amiable Go Back to Love More Example Sentences Learn More About amiable

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Other Words from amiable

amiability \ ˌā-mē-ə-ˈbi-lə-tē

\ noun

amiableness \ ˈā-mē-ə-bəl-nəs

\ noun

amiably \ ˈā-mē-ə-blē

\ adverb

Choose the Right Synonym for amiable

amiable, good-natured, obliging, complaisant mean having the desire or disposition to please. amiable implies having qualities that make one liked and easy to deal with. an amiable teacher not easily annoyed good-natured implies cheerfulness or helpfulness and sometimes a willingness to be imposed upon. a good-natured girl who was always willing to pitch in obliging stresses a friendly readiness to be helpful. our obliging innkeeper found us a bigger room complaisant often implies passivity or a yielding to others because of weakness. was too complaisant to protest a decision he thought unfair

The Roots of Amiable Go Back to Love

Amiable derives from the Late Latin adjective amicabilis, meaning "friendly," which in turn comes from the Latin word for "friend" and can ultimately be traced back to amare, meaning "to love." When amiable was adopted into English in the 14th century, it meant "pleasing" or "admirable," but that sense is now obsolete. The current, familiar senses of "generally agreeable" ("an amiable movie") and "friendly and sociable" came centuries later. Amare has also given English speakers such words as amative and amorous (both meaning "strongly moved by love"), amour ("a usually illicit love affair"), and even amateur (which originally meant "admirer").

Examples of amiable in a Sentence

… an amiable man, a gray-headed, fiftyish, good old boy with a long career in media and public relations, and a hellish taste for margaritas … — Denis Johnson, Rolling Stone, 17 Aug. 2000 These strained plot contortions aren't really necessary: the funny, amiable heart of the movie is in the scenes of these tough old duffers scamming their way through the training program. — David Ansen, Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2000 The book pivots around Molly Bonner, an amiable, 40-ish woman whose second husband has just died in a helicopter accident, leaving her grief-struck and rich. — Tad Friend, Vogue, March 1997 Gianni Versace is an amiable smoothy with a light touch and a corona of gray hair. — Marie Brenner, Vanity Fair, January 1997 Everyone knew him as an amiable fellow. She had an amiable conversation with her friend.

Recent Examples on the Web At the time, 27-year-old Jeff Gordon was the sport’s amiable, camera-ready star, already a three-time Winston Cup winner. — Roy S. Johnson | Rjohnson@al.com, al, 6 Oct. 2021 Spending time with puzzle master and magician David Kwong is a bit like hanging out with a dashing and amiable supercomputer programmed to solve the most eccentric problems mankind could dream up for its cognitive amusement. — Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2021 Lil Nas X isn’t the most engaging lyricist and he’e a pretty anonymous (if amiable) vocalist. — Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 17 Sep. 2021 The result is an amiable mix of light comedy, teen angst, medical crises and Hawaiian beauty. — Mike Hughes, The Enquirer, 15 Sep. 2021 There are unspoken rules for comedians appearing on late night shows: be succinct and amiable, play nice with the other guests, plug your movie, keep it moving. — Andrew R. Chow, Time, 14 Sep. 2021 Until recently, the conventional wisdom had been that, after a first round of voting, Le Pen would face Alain Juppé, the amiable mayor of Bordeaux and a former Prime Minister, in a runoff. — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2021 The concepts and imagery are always ridiculous, but what makes these sketches soar is the genius, amiable deadpan of Mawhinney and Ross. — Luke Winkie, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2021 His amiable manner served as a sharp contrast to his Wyoming predecessor, Republican Sen. Al Simpson, who feasted off humor and enjoyed taking on politically fraught battles. — Paul Kane, Anchorage Daily News, 27 July 2021

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'amiable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for amiable

Middle English amyable, borrowed from Anglo-French amiable, going back to Late Latin amīcābilis, from Latin amīcus "personal friend, lover, friend in public life, partisan" or amīcāre "to make friendly to oneself, propitiate" (derivative of amīcus) + -bilis "capable (of acting) or worthy (of being acted upon)"; Latin amīcus, noun derivative of amīcus, adjective, "friendly, well-disposed, loving, devoted," derivative of amāre "to feel affection for, love" — more at amateur, -able

Note: A predecessor *ama-ikos, from a stative verb *ama-ē-, is suggested by P. Schrijver (The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Latin, Rodopi, 1991, p. 399), following a proposal by D. Steinbauer (Etymologische Untersuchungen zu den bei Plautus belegten Verben der lateinischen ersten Konjugation, Altendorf, 1989, pp. 131-32). This would seem to be supported by the inscriptional form ameicus (unless it is an inverted spelling) and the form amecus cited by the grammarian Sextus Pompeius Festus. M. Weiss, on the other hand, proposes a "deinstrumental" origin from an adverbial base *amī- "with love," in Indo-European terms *h₂m̥h₃ih₁- (see Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, Ann Arbor, 2009, p. 296).