palatable

adjective

pal·​at·​able ˈpa-lə-tə-bəl 

1

: agreeable to the palate or taste

The restaurant's chicken dishes are quite palatable.

2

: agreeable or acceptable to the mind

attempted to make physics palatable to a broader range of students

palatability

ˌpa-lə-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

noun

palatableness noun

palatably

ˈpa-lə-tə-blē 

adverb

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How should you use palatable?

Palatable comes from palate, a word for the roof of the mouth, which itself comes from Latin palatum. The palate was once thought of as the seat of the sense of taste, so the word eventually came to mean "sense of taste," or broadly, "liking."

Synonyms

• agreeable
• all right
• alright
• copacetic
• copasetic
• copesetic
• ducky
• fine
• good
• hunky-dory
• jake [slang]
• OK
• okay
• satisfactory

Choose the Right Synonym for palatable

palatable, appetizing, savory, tasty, toothsome mean agreeable or pleasant especially to the sense of taste.

palatable often applies to something that is found to be merely agreeable.

butterflies that birds find palatable

appetizing suggests a whetting of the appetite and applies to aroma and appearance as well as taste.

appetizing hors d'oeuvres

savory applies to both taste and aroma and suggests piquancy and often spiciness.

dumplings with savory fillings

tasty implies a pronounced taste.

a tart and tasty pie

toothsome stresses the notion of agreeableness and sometimes implies tenderness or daintiness.

an enticing array of toothsome desserts

Examples of palatable in a Sentence

a less than palatable beer

I did not find the idea of moving again very palatable.

Recent Examples on the Web

After more than two years of political deadlock, Aoun’s election was seen as a victory for the anti-Hezbollah camp, and has seemingly made the shift in public opinion regarding peace with Israel more palatable. —Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 24 Apr. 2025

Instead of making something miraculous out of rudimentary materials, Government Cheese has a pantry of fine ingredients but never puts together anything palatable. —Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 15 Apr. 2025

Kadri did what he was supposed to do as the team’s third-line centre, providing credible offensive numbers (0.60 points per game) and palatable possession metrics (49.55 percent xG) with fair neutral usage (51.6 percent offensive-zone start rate). —Nick Ashbourne, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025

But simply abandoning the docking attempt was not a palatable solution. —ArsTechnica, 1 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1662, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for palatable

• unpalatable

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Kids Definition

palatable

adjective

pal·​at·​able ˈpal-ət-ə-bəl 

1

: agreeable to the taste

2

: agreeable sense 1, acceptable

palatability

ˌpal-ət-ə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

noun

palatably

ˈpal-ət-ə-blē 

adverb