durable

play

adjective du·ra·ble \ˈdu̇r-ə-bəl also ˈdyu̇r-\

Definition of durable

: able to exist for a long time without significant deterioration in quality or value a durable suitcase; also : designed to be durable durable goods

durability

play \ˌdu̇r-ə-ˈbi-lə-tē, ˌdyu̇r-\ noun

durableness

play \ˈdu̇r-ə-bəl-nəs, ˈdyu̇r-\ noun

durably

play \-blē\ adverb

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durable was our Word of the Day on 12/03/2015. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of durable from the Web

Durable clothes like jeans, tees, and sweaters can be rolled to fit between crevices and around harder items, while delicate dresses, blouses or suits can be flat packed in plastic dry cleaning bags to minimize wrinkles.

— jane sung, Teen Vogue, "How to Pack Any Bag in 15 Minutes," 20 July 2017
Sessions’s move defied a broad, durable consensus against civil forfeiture on both the left and the right in recent years.

— matt ford, The Atlantic, "The Bipartisan Opposition to Sessions's New Civil-Forfeiture Rules," 19 July 2017
That’s why researchers have been on a quest to find more durable data storage, like diamonds and even DNA.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "Scientists Store Video Clip in DNA of Living Cells," 15 July 2017
Hardy hibiscus is a durable perennial that is often confused with its tropical cousin.

— dennis patton, kansascity, "Hardy hibiscus provides great summer color," 14 July 2017
Both were power pitchers, but the Reds surmised that because Bailey was a bigger guy, his arm would be more durable than Cueto’s.

— paul daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Doc: While Homer Bailey shakes off the rust, let's see if there's a lesson here," 30 June 2017
The government has also sunk more than $450 million into preparations for construction of a modern and more seismically durable pit production facility at Los Alamos, projected to have a total price tag between $1.5 billion and $3 billion.

— r. jeffrey smith, Science | AAAS, "Safety problems at a Los Alamos laboratory," 30 June 2017
Amazon claims the unit is more durable than Apple’s latest 7.9 inch IPad Mini 4 ($399).

— jonathan takiff, Philly.com, "Comparing Apple's high end tablet to Amazon's bargain Fire unit," 29 June 2017
But during the 20th century the automobile left one of the most durable marks on city planning.

— carlo ratti, Scientific American, "How Driverless Cars Will Transform Cities," 26 June 2017

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

Did You Know?

Something "durable" lasts a long time, so it's no surprise that the word comes to us, via Anglo-French, from the Latin verb durare, meaning "to last." Other descendants of "durare" in English include "during," "endure," and "durance" (which now mostly turns up in the phrase "in durance vile," a fancy way of saying "in prison"). "Durable" even has a near synonym in the much rarer "perdurable," which combines "durare" with the prefix per- (meaning "throughout") to create a word that can mean "lasting a very long time or indefinitely" or "eternal."

Origin and Etymology of durable

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin durabilis, from durare to last — more at during

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First Known Use: 14th century

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Synonym Discussion of durable

lasting, permanent, durable, stable mean enduring for so long as to seem fixed or established. lasting implies a capacity to continue indefinitely. a book that left a lasting impression on me permanent adds usually the implication of being designed or planned to stand or continue indefinitely. permanent living arrangements durable implies power to resist destructive agencies. durable fabrics stable implies lastingness because of resistance to being overturned or displaced. a stable government