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
Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 13 May 2025
The district’s multiyear plan calls for the replacement of existing lot at 811 S. West St. with a permeable paver lot.
—Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 24 Apr. 2025
Water Wise installed permeable paving stones in the parking lot to speed up drainage and planted a rain garden to catch runoff from the roof.
—Cara Buckley, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2025
At the Carnegie, gauzy floor-to-ceiling curtains demarcate the show, evoking the permeable thresholds in Abercrombie’s work.
—Jeremy Lybarger, ARTnews.com, 26 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 24 May. 2025.
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permeable
adjective
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permeable
adjective
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