Word.ws English Dictionary

portability

portability noun: the ability of a program (or software system) to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms.

Noun

portability (usually uncountable, plural portabilities)

  1. (usually) The ability of a program (or software system) to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms.
  2. (usually) The ability of an employee to move between different social security schemes without losing their contributions.
  3. (usually) The ability of a telephone subscriber to keep their number when switching to a different network.
    • […] number portability is crucial for competition, because it enables consumers to change service providers without being forced to change their phone number. Number portability is a statutory requirement, and it imposes costs on all[…]1999, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Commerce. Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Reauthorization of the Federal Communications Commission: Hearing...

Forms of portability

pluralportabilities

Origin of portability

From portable + -ity.

Words formed from portability

Questions about portability

What does portability mean?
Portability means the ability of a program (or software system) to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms.
What part of speech is portability?
Portability is a noun.
What is the plural of portability?
The plural of portability is portabilities.

Words near portability in the dictionary

  1. portabella
  2. portabellas
  3. portabello
  4. portabellos
  5. portabilities
  6. portability
  7. portabilization
  8. portable
  9. portable art
  10. portable computer
  11. portable computers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: portability (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-portability.wav.

Cite this entry: “portability.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/portability. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.