Word of the Day

: December 13, 2014

tractable

adjective TRAK-tuh-bul

What It Means

1 : capable of being easily led, taught, or controlled

2 : easily handled, managed, or wrought

tractable in Context

The couple had hoped to find a tractable and obedient dog that wouldn't cause too much trouble, but instead they got Rufus and their life has never been the same.

"But values have been steadily rising simply because it's such a good driver's car. It's incredibly tractable and usable-more so than any other car I can think of from that period, in fact." - Dylan Miles, quoted in Classic Driver, November 14, 2014

Did You Know?

Obedient, docile, and amenable are synonyms of tractable, but those four words have slightly different shades of meaning. Tractable describes an individual whose character permits easy handling, while docile implies a predisposition to submit readily to authority. Obedient is often used to describe compliance with authority, although that compliance is not necessarily offered eagerly. Amenable, on the other hand, is usually used when one cooperates out of a desire to be agreeable. Tractable dates from the early 16th century and derives from the Latin verb tractare ("to handle" or "to treat"). Despite the resemblance, this root did not give us the noun tractor or verbs such as contract or attract-those all derive from a loosely related Latin verb trahere ("to draw or drag").