How to use passable in a sentence

15 example sentences · adjective

Passable means that may be passed or traversed. Example: “It's a passable substitute, but it will never measure up to the original.”

Examples of passable by meaning

adjectiveTolerable; adequate; no more than satisfactory.

Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work.2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
AIs are no longer just producing passable five-paragraph essays.2023 March 21, Ian Bogost, “Is This the Singularity for Standardized Tests?”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2023

adjectiveAble to "pass", or be accepted as a member of a race, sex or other group to which society would not otherwise regard...

I concluded that if I ever met a very passable transsexual and we were attracted to one another, I'd go bisexual and pursue the relationship.2014, Paul Stryker, Confessions of a Sex Offender, page 33

More sentences with passable

It's a passable substitute, but it will never measure up to the original.From the entry measure up
In those days the North Pass was the only entryway to the valley that was passable by cart or wagon traffic.From the entry entryway
She kept her eyes low, and though her Twi was passable, she rarely spoke it.2016, Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing, Penguin Books (2017), page 35. From the entry TWI
Ze love-making was passable, but, uh, belt play is a leettle pedestriahn, don’t you seenk?”.2015 February 15, “Tobacco”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 2, John Oliver (actor), via HBO. From the entry tame
They make a passable "graham cracker" crust, but they aren't identical.2000 October 7, Kris Dow, “graham crackers”, in alt.polyamory (Usenet), archived from the original on 13 Nov 2023. From the entry graham crackery
The Suyoc-Posos Provincial Road alternate route is also not passable as of the moment due to a recurring landslide.2026 August 13, PIA Benguet, “BENGUET ROAD UPDATE”, in Facebook. From the entry Bangho
Revision can turn a passable paper into an excellent one and change an excellent one into a radiant one.2002, James D. Lester; James D. Lester, Jr, Writing Research Papers, page 195. From the entry revision
The Hohsi Corridor is long, narrow and easily passable.[1964, Yu-ti (任育地) Jen, 中国地理概述 [A Concise Geography of China], Peking: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 195. From the entry Beishan
That they can, with a straight face, praise it as good scholarship calls into question whether they can any longer recognize even passable scholarship.2026, Michael Anton, “Fury Road”, in The Claremont Review of Books, The Claremont Institute, →ISSN, →OCLC. From the entry bilge
I had never met anyone like her, and I was blown away by how unclockable — or passable for a woman — she was.2018 March 9, Monica Beverly Hillz, “I'm a trans woman and a drag queen. Despite what RuPaul says, you can be both”, in The Washington Post. From the entry unclockable
Especially for him I’ve kept some hash that I had gotten from another sadhu, a piece of black Manali of passable quality.2007, Dolf Hartsuiker, Holy Smoke. From the entry chillum
"The more passable your body was, the less bullying you'd get, the more chances of you getting a regular job at a regular place without somebody clocking you."2019 September 1, Dani Nett, “For Trans Women, Silicone 'Pumping' Can Be A Blessing And A Curse”, in NPR. From the entry clock

Meaning of passable

adjective That may be passed or traversed.
adjective Tolerable; adequate; no more than satisfactory.
adjective Able to "pass", or be accepted as a member of a race, sex or other group to which society would not otherwise regard one as belonging.

Full definition of passable

Questions about passable in a sentence

How do you use passable in a sentence?: Passable is used as an adjective. For example: “It's a passable substitute, but it will never measure up to the original.”
What is a short sentence with passable?: “AIs are no longer just producing passable five-paragraph essays.”
What does passable mean?: Passable means that may be passed or traversed.

Adapted from Wiktionary: passable (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use passable in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/passable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.