Exemptible

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A characteristic of being able to be freed from a duty or obligation
2. The quality of being permitted to avoid compliance with a regulation or requirement
3. Able to be released from an imposed responsibility or rule

Etymology: "Exemptible" is a straightforward formation: it combines "exempt" with the suffix "-ible", which means "able to be" or "capable of being" something. So an exemptible person or obligation is one that can be exempted from a duty or rule. The base word "exempt" came into English from Latin "exemptus", the past participle of "eximere", meaning "to take out" or "to remove". The Latin verb was built from "ex-", "out", and "emere", "to take", which gives the core sense of lifting something out of its usual place. English "exempt" carries that same idea of being taken out from under an obligation. Adding "-ible" to a word that already names a state of release produces a term for eligibility rather than the act itself. The result describes a thing that could be cleared of a requirement, not one that has already been cleared.

Synonyms: excludable, removable

Antonyms: obligatory, mandatory