Affirmable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Possible to be substantiated or acknowledged in differing circumstances
2. Allowing for a confident declaration in various domains of discourse
3. Capable of being confirmed as true or accurate under given conditions

Etymology: "Affirmable" is a plain combination: the verb "affirm" with the suffix "-able," meaning "capable of being." The verb "affirm" came into English from Old French "affermer," which goes back to Latin "affirmare," meaning "to make firm," from "ad-" ("to") plus "firmare" ("to make firm," from "firmus," "firm"). So the core idea is firmness: to affirm something is to make it firm, and something affirmable is something that can be made firm. The suffix has a longer path. The "-able" ending descends from Latin "-abilis" and "-bilis," which attached to verb stems to mean "able to be" something, and it passed through Old French "-able" into Middle English. English then adopted it as a productive suffix that could be attached to almost any verb, which is why "affirmable" could be formed freely from "affirm" without any earlier model.

Synonyms: confirmable, validatable

Antonyms: deniable, refutable