comfortable

comparative comfortabler · comparative more comfortable · superlative comfortablest · superlative most comfortable · alternative pronunciation spelling comftabul · alternative pronunciation spelling comfterble · alternative pronunciation spelling comftorble

1. Providing physical comfort and ease; agreeable.First known use 18th c.

   This is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.

   1 more example

   We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 179

2. In a state of comfort and content.First known use 18th c.

   What a great guestroom! I'll be quite comfortable here.

   1 more example

   A great bargain also had been[…]the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.

   1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0016

3. Confident; relaxed; not worried about someone or something.

   Time spent waiting offshore / The calm before the storm / My take from you is simple / So heal your fear / To heal your fear / You're such a comfortable liar

   2002 October 8, “Comfortable Liar”, in Wonder What's Next, performed by Chevelle

4. Amply sufficient, satisfactory.First known use 17th c.

   The home team is ahead by a comfortable margin.

   2 more examples

   A comfortable income should suffice to consider oneself rich.

   When Hape sauntered over for a try after only three minutes it looked as if England were destined for a comfortable victory, but Georgia are made of sterner stuff, as they showed when running Scotland close in Invercargill last week.

   2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport

5. obsoleteComforting, providing comfort; consolatory.First known use 14th–19th c.

   a comfortable provision made for their subsistence

   1699, John Dryden, Tales from Chaucer

   2 more examples

   he was going to make away himself; but meeting by chance his master Plotinus, who, perceiving by his distracted looks all was not well, urged him to confess his grief; which when he had heard, he used such comfortable speeches, that he redeemed him e faucibus Erebi[…].

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection ii

   The commanding officer readily granted a reprieve, and Louis, who, on the arrival of this letter, had forborne to communicate its contents to Theodore, left it should torture him with false hope, now hastened to him with this comfortable news.

   1791, Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest

   Synonyms: comforting, comfy, cozy, eathful, restful, snug, cushy, safe

6. obsoleteStrong; vigorous; valiant.

   Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For my sake be comfortable; hold death a while at the arm's end.

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]

7. obsoleteServiceable; helpful.

   Be comfortable to my mother, your mistress, and make much of her.

   c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

plural comfortables · alternative pronunciation spelling comftabul · alternative pronunciation spelling comfterble · alternative pronunciation spelling comftorble

1. USA stuffed or quilted coverlet for a bed; a comforter.