permeable
adjective
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“Our landscapes are changing … they’re becoming less permeable to wildlife at the precise moment animals need to move most,” writes Ben Goldfarb in his book Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet. He’s describing the effects of highway infrastructure and at the same time clearly demonstrating the meaning of permeable, a word that traces back to a combination of the prefix per-, meaning “through,” and the Latin verb meare, meaning “to go” or “to pass.” Accordingly, a permeable landscape—such as one where humans have constructed wildlife overpasses—is one that allows animals to pass and spread through unimpeded. Permeable’s relative, the verb permeate (“to spread or diffuse through”) is another commonly used meare descendent, but other relations haven’t managed to permeate the language quite so widely, such as meatus (“a natural body passage”), congé (“a formal permission to depart”), and irremeable (“offering no possibility of return”).
Examples of permeable in a Sentence
Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 4 Apr. 2025
Stress increases inflammation in the brain, making the blood-brain barrier weaker and more permeable.
—William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 25 Mar. 2025
The developer should go back to the drawing board and come up with a way to create a larger buffer of trees and permeable surfaces between the park and their development.
—The Denver Post Editorial Board, The Denver Post, 17 Feb. 2025
Standard filters like reverse osmosis — which runs water through a semi-permeable membrane — typically remove a large portion of microplastics and PFAS.
—Benji Jones, Vox, 10 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for permeable
Cite this Entry
“Permeable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/permeable. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
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permeable
adjective
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permeable
adjective
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