feasible

adjective

fea·si·ble ˈfē-zə-bəl

Synonyms of feasible next

: capable of being done or carried out

a feasible plan

: capable of being used or dealt with successfully : suitable

: reasonable, likely

gave an explanation that seemed feasible enough

feasibility

ˌfē-zə-ˈbi-lə-tē

noun

feasibly

ˈfē-zə-blē

adverb

feasibleness noun

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Feasible and Doable

Feasible comes from faire, the French verb meaning “to do.” Doable and feasible therefore originally meant literally the same thing: “capable of being done.” Indeed, doable was formed with -able, the Latin-derived French ending meaning “capable of” combined, in this instance, with do, a word with roots in Old English and one of the most basic and useful of our verbs. Though their respective etymological meanings may overlap, doable and feasible exist more in parallel with each other than as true synonyms. As with most such pairs of words, the Latin-derived term is used when describing more abstract notions. The words most commonly modified by feasible include:

option

alternative

solution

plan

approach

These are words that describe what has yet to be decided or what will be carefully considered. By contrast, doable modifies more concrete terms:

task

thing

target

Feasible is used when an element of abstraction, distance, and technical specificity is needed. The more earthy doable is rarely used in formal writing, and is not found in the works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, or any of the founding documents of the United States.

This abstract use of feasible also accounts for the word that expresses a putative, conceptual, or hypothetical state: feasibility. Indeed, we frequently encounter “feasibility study” but not “doability study” (although doability is a word that is sometimes used, it hasn’t yet been added to most dictionaries). As long as something is just an idea, it’s feasible. When it’s time for action, we need to find out if it’s doable.

Choose the Right Synonym for feasible

possible, practicable, feasible mean capable of being realized.

possible implies that a thing may certainly exist or occur given the proper conditions.

a possible route up the west face of the mountain

practicable implies that something may be effected by available means or under current conditions.

a solution that is not practicable in the time available

feasible applies to what is likely to work or be useful in attaining the end desired.

commercially feasible for mass production

Examples of feasible in a Sentence

Egyptian hieroglyphics … are also usually assumed to be the product of independent invention, but the alternative interpretation of idea diffusion is more feasible than in the case of Chinese writing. —

Jared M. Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel, 1997

… there do not appear to be any remedies for this situation that are at once politically feasible and likely to work. —

Richard A. Posner, Times Literary Supplement, 1 Sept. 1995

The '70s was the era in which it seemed more important, or more feasible, to reform our bodies than to change the world. —

Barbara Ehrenreich, Utne Reader, May/June 1992

The government has now made it feasible for tourists to spend as long as a month in the country … —

Fred C. Shapiro, New Yorker, 22 Oct. 1990

looking for a feasible way to create new jobs would it be feasible to build a cabin in so short a time? See More

Recent Examples on the Web With its chosen catalyst, the system could produce oxygen from the Martian materials at around minus 37 degrees Celsius, demonstrating the chemical reaction could be feasible on the cold Martian surface. —

Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Nov. 2023 Asking you to wear extra layers and heavier clothes to cover your pregnancy is not feasible! —

Angela Andaloro, Peoplemag, 15 Nov. 2023 Many of these options are already economically feasible, the report states. —

Chelsea Harvey, Scientific American, 14 Nov. 2023 That would keep alive hopes to land Starship on the Moon with astronauts by the late 2020s, which seems realistic even if NASA's official schedule of 2025 is no longer feasible. —

Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2023 No country in a situation like the one Israel faces would pass up on a feasible option to eliminate an intolerable threat like the one Hamas poses. —

James F. Jeffrey, Foreign Affairs, 28 Oct. 2023 The vision, outside cell therapy experts say, pushes far beyond what cellular medicine has been able to achieve to date, but could be feasible with recent advances in immunology and cell-engineering. —

Jason Mast, STAT, 18 Oct. 2023 That leaves another 450,000 to be built and ideally sold in the final three months—a feat that is certainly feasible. —

Bychristiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2023 Injectable cryolipolysis treatments are likely to be available in the future with initial in-human trials conducted in 2021 demonstrating that these injections are feasible. —

Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 18 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'feasible.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English faisible, feseable, borrowed from Anglo-French fesable, faisable, from fais-, stem of faire "to make, do" (going back to Latin facere) + -able -able — more at fact

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of feasible was in the 15th century

See more words from the same century