Word of the Day

: October 10, 2021

amicable

adjective AM-ih-kuh-bul

What It Means

Amicable means "showing a polite and friendly desire to avoid disagreement and argument."

// The partners maintained an amicable relationship after selling the business.

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amicable in Context

"I value the hours of amicable, nuanced conversations on complex topics with the people I have met, which always prove to be full of disagreement but also surprising amounts of agreement and understanding." — John Rochford, The Iowa State Daily (Ames, Iowa), 21 Aug. 2021

Did You Know?

Amicable comes from Latin amīcābilis, meaning "friendly," and amāre, "to feel affection for" or "to love." Amāre has a number of English descendants, including amiable ("friendly, sociable, and congenial"), amorous ("strongly moved by love and especially sexual love"), and amateur, which, though it might seem surprising, is related to amāre by way of the Latin amātor, which means "lover" as well as "enthusiastic admirer" and "devotee."