Meanings
comparative more navigable · superlative most navigable
- Capable of being navigated; deep enough and wide enough to afford passage to vessels.
[...] on July 16, 1790, a public meeting [...] unanimously approved of a scheme for making the River Soar navigable from Leicester to Loughborough, and "a cut or rail-way from Swannington and the neighbourhood to the bason at Loughborough."
1939 July 28, Charles E. Lee, “Swannington: One-Time Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, page 31 more example
Shanghai is situated on this river, about twelve miles above Woosung; and the river is navigable for steam-boats forty-seven miles higher up—to the point where it issues from the small lake on the south of the canal. Chapoo, the town taken by the British immediately before the attack upon Woosung, is on the north side of the gulf of Che-kiang, about midway between its north cape and its innermost recess. Shanghai is the great emporium of the trade of this district with the tea-provinces on the South, with the province of Shantung and the coast of the Mantchoo Tartars on the North.
1842 November 26, “GEOGRAPHY OF THE DESPATCHES.”, in The Spectator, number 752, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1139, column 2 - Easy to navigate.
This Web site isn't very navigable. I can't tell which image links to which page.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveable to be sailed on or through safely
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinnavigabilis
- Middle Frenchnavigable
- Englishnavigable
From Middle French navigable, from Latin navigabilis.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ναυσίπορος
- ναυσίπορος (nausíporos)for a body of water: sea, river etc.
Bulgarian управляем, плавателен
- управляем (upravljaem)for a balloon
- плавателен (plavatelen)for a body of water: sea, river etc.
- годен за плаване (goden za plavane)for a boat
Catalan navegable, navegable
- navegablefor a body of water: sea, river etc.
- navegablefor a boat
Czech splavný
- splavnýfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
Dutch bevaarbaar
- bevaarbaarfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
Esperanto navigebla
- navigeblafor a body of water: sea, river etc.
Finnish purjehduskelpoinen, merikelpoinen
- purjehduskelpoinenfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
- merikelpoinenfor a boat
French navigable
- navigablefor a body of water: sea, river etc.
German schiffbar
- schiffbarfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
Hebrew עָבִיר לְשַׁיִט
- עָבִיר לְשַׁיִט (avir leshayit)for a body of water: sea, river etc.
Irish inseolta, instiúrtha
- inseoltafor a body of water: sea, river etc.
- instiúrthafor a boat
Norwegian Bokmål farbar, seilbar
- farbarfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
- seilbarfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
Polish sterowalny, żeglowny
- sterowalnyfor a balloon
- żeglownyfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
- spławnyfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
- żeglownyfor a boat
- spławnyfor a boat
Portuguese navegável
- navegávelfor a body of water: sea, river etc.
Russian судохо́дный
- судохо́дный (sudoxódnyj)for a body of water: sea, river etc.
Spanish navegable
- navegablefor a body of water: sea, river etc.
Cite this entry
navigable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/navigable
“navigable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/navigable. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “navigable,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/navigable.
Source: navigable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.