reconcilableadj.n.
/ˈrɛk(ə)nsʌɪləbl/, /ˌrɛk(ə)nˈsʌɪləbl/, U.S. /ˌrɛkənˈsaɪləb(ə)l/ A. adj.† 6. Mathematics. Designating curves which can be continuously deformed into one another without passing outside the space under consideration. Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. Of a person, a person's disposition, etc.: capable of being brought to a state of acquiescence or acceptance.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > absence of dissension or peace > bringing about concord or peace > [adjective] > reconciling > reconciled > easily reconciled
reconcilable1574
1574 G. Fenton tr. J. Talpin Forme Christian Pollicie vii. vi. 339 What know we, if God (of nature good and reconcileable to our vices) wilbe conuerted and aforde grace?
1621 T. W. tr. S. Goulart Wise Vieillard 78 When we see the minde of man..to abandon hatred, and to be of a peaceable and reconcilable inclination, it is a signe that it is in an excellent state of rest and tranquilitie.
1641 J. Jackson True Evangelical Temper iii. 172 It is a disposition and temper truly Euangelicall, and savouring of Christ, to be peaceable, and reconcileable.
a1711 T. Ken Divine Love in Wks. (1838) 291 Let thy love, thou God of love, make me peaceful and reconcileable, always ready to return good for evil, to repay injuries with kindness.
1845 J. F. Cooper Chainbearer II. iv. 49 We're what I call a reasonable and reconcileable breed, minding our own business, and having a respect for that of other people.
1875 Times 28 June 11/4 They [sc. the extreme French Liberals] are reconcilable on every political subject, but the Church and its pretensions they cannot endure.
1949 R. Moley 27 Masters Polit. 7 After his election Johnson appealed to the more reconcilable people of the business community.
2007 Guardian (Nexis) 31 May 7 There is no deliberate plan to attack. The key thing is to determine who is reconcilable and who is not.
b. Of a person: capable of being restored to friendly terms with another; now chiefly (Christian Church) of God, or of humanity in relation to God. Also with to. rare after 17th cent.
ΚΠ
1606 R. Parsons Answere 5th Pt. Rep. Cooke Pref. sig. Õ Õ Protestants and Puritanes are but onlie iarring-brethren, and reconcilable between themselues.
?1637 T. Hobbes tr. Aristotle Briefe Art Rhetorique iii. 75 Whooever therefore would asswage the Anger of his Auditor, must..beget in his Auditor such opinions, as make him reconcilable.
1690 tr. G. Buchanan Hist. Scotl. xii. 421 The King was now more reconcileable to him, than formerly.
1754 W. Livingston in Independent Reflector (1963) 294 He, at the same Time represents the Deity as..reconcilable to a penitent World, by the Mediation of his Son.
1820 Panoplist Mar. 120 Now God is reconcilable to you.
1999 Evening Herald (Plymouth) (Nexis) 3 Mar. 3 The meaning of Easter is that through the self-giving sacrificial life of Jesus, men and women can be..reconcilable to God and to each other.
2. Of facts, states, qualities, etc.: capable of being brought into mutual agreement or compatibility.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > agreement, harmony, or congruity > [adjective] > that brings into agreement or harmony > that can be brought into agreement
alliable1543
reconciliable1609
concurrible1611
reconcilable1612
sortablea1642
compliable1642
conciliable1645
1612 J. Selden in M. Drayton Poly-olbion ix. Illustr. 146 But howsoeuer these things might be reconcileable, I thinke cleerely [etc.].
1727 J. Arbuthnot Tables Anc. Coins 259 The different accounts that are given of the Numbers of Ships on both sides by several Authors, are reconcileable, by supposing that [etc.].
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xviii. 77 The opposite yet reconcileable vices of rapaciousness and prodigality.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India I. ii. iv. 147 (note) When there are two sacred texts, apparently inconsistent, both are held to be law, for both are pronounced by the wise to be valid and reconcileable.
a1873 W. C. Macready Reminisc. (1875) I. xiv. 227 To render his [sc. Hamlet's] seeming inconsistencies reconcilable and intelligible, is the artist's study.
1963 J. L. H. Keep Rise of Social Democracy in Russia iv. 136 He advanced two arguments, not easily reconcilable, to explain his action.
2002 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 11 Dec. 11 The different directions in which she is pulled by her various guises and personae are not reconcilable.
3. Of a fact, state, quality, etc.: capable of agreement or coexistence with another.
a. With with.
ΚΠ
1614 E. Grimeston tr. P. Matthieu Hist. Lewis XI xi. 149 They went to serue them whom they held to bee least reconcileable with him.
1646 H. Hammond Severall Tracts 25 Whether it be reconcileable, or unreconcileable with a good Conscience.
1657 H. Hammond Some Profitable Direct. Priest & People 38 Before we could not allow it reconcileable with his infinite justice.
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia iii. i. 92 The Habits and Customs of this Place are reconcileable with them in the Kingdom of Gulconda.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. i. 29 That we are to live Hereafter, is just as reconcileable with the Scheme of Atheism.
1764 J. Otis Rights Brit. Colonies 37 Now let it be shown how 'tis reconcileable with these principles, or to many other fundamental maxims of the British constitution.
1818 J. Hobhouse in Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV Notes 179 The account in Polybius is not so easily reconcileable with present appearances as that in Livy.
1882 A. W. Ward Dickens vii. 199 The irony of Smollett is drier than was reconcileable with Dickens' nature.
1944 Scrutiny 12 212 His [sc. Purcell's] problem was, how to achieve a kind of declamation; and complementarily how to make the simple metrical dances of the concerted spectacle of the masque..reconcilable with the power of this declamation.
1996 B. Connolly Rotten Heart of Europe (ed. 2) xiii. 365 The path to Maastricht's monetary union could be barred by social breakdown in France even if it were reconcilable with la gloire de la France.
b. With to.
ΚΠ
1642 T. May Disc. Successe Former Parl. 6 They strive for an unjust power to give it countenance, and so by a long consequence become hardly reconcilable to a Parliamentarie way.
1691 J. Hartcliffe Treat. Virtues 209 Thus to represent Religion, as a thing reconcileable to Evil, is the greatest Scandal to it.
1749 D. Hartley Observ. Man i. ii. 158 The Action of acrid Poisons is very reconcileable to the Doctrine.
1784 J. Reynolds Disc. Royal Acad. 21 This is hardly reconcileable to strict propriety.
1818 J. Bentham Church-of-Englandism 56 The language is here reconcileable to the rules of common sense.
1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) iv. 24 Sole master and proprietor of one of these effigies—of that which..had the shoe buckles and flapped waistcoat the least reconcileable to human reason.
1906 Coshocton (Ohio) Daily 7 Apr. 1/1 It is only when facts and circumstances are not reconcilable to the accused's innocence that he can be convicted.
1936 Virginia Law Rev. 22 598 Of the several rulings made, one appears to controvert the authority of prior decisions of the court, while two are comprehensible and reconcilable to established precedent only after careful study.
2004 D. Attridge Peculiar Lang. ii. 36 If art—whether the art of poetry or the art of courtly conduct—were reconcilable to rule, it would be available to all who were willing to make the effort.
4. Of an idea, explanation, etc.: capable of being made intellectually or morally acceptable. Also with to.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > action of making pleasant > [adjective] > made pleasant > capable of being
reconcilable1791
the mind > emotion > pleasure > contentment or satisfaction > [adjective] > contenting or satisfying > satisfactory > capable of being made
reconcilable1791
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 108 But with more difficulty, or hardly at all is that reconcilable which is delivered by our Countreyman. View more context for this quotation
1719 D. Waterland Vindic. Christ's Divinity 375 Are you well assured that you understand whatever is intelligible or reconcilable?
1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 252 The dark veil..is reconcileable to him who..trusts confidently that the catastrophe will set all to rights.
1799 G. Washington Let. in Writings (1893) XIV. 165 I do not think it will be a very reconcilable matter to Gentlemen of more respectable ages..to have a young man..placed over their heads.
1820 Times 19 Dec. 3/5 The whole thing was reconcileable, by supposing that Compton had mistaken Holloway-Street for Union-street.
1898 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 7 124 There are several traditional ways of treating wages..which are, in the last analysis, quite reconcilable to those inquirers who are of a kindly turn of mind.
1978 A. S. Miller Supreme Court x. 365 That Ms. James lost and Ms. Roe and Ms. Doe won is reconcilable to my mind only by the fact that each decision furthers societal interests.
1985 B. J. Hunt Paradox Christian Trag. vi. 128 Because Christianity assumes God is just and all happens according to God's Providence, evil is always reconcilable.
2006 Fed. News Service (Nexis) 30 Nov. What we are doing here, is it worth it..? Is what we're doing reconcilable?
5. Of a disagreement: capable of being resolved.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > absence of dissension or peace > bringing about concord or peace > [adjective] > reconciling > reconciled > admitting of reconciliation
reconcilable1838
1838 J. F. Cooper Home as Found II. xii. 188 Unhappily, family quarrels are ever the most bitter, and usually they are the least reconcileable.
1888 Atlantic Monthly Sept. 323/2 It brought strong minds and brave hearts, public spirit and patriotism, into reconcilable antagonism against the home government.
1957 Times 16 Aug. 15/1 These [sc. conditions of trade] together with the inescapable rising costs compounded contributively to a situation throughout the year to which there was little reconcilable solution.
2003 Seattle Times (Nexis) 26 Jan. Their disputes range from broken promises to perceived slights to battles for power, and they are almost never reconcilable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > graph or diagram > [adjective] > of a graph
reconcilable1873
smoothed1888
linear1910
J-shaped1911
nomographic1915
smooth1929
complete1935
spanning1956
reachable1959
embeddable1961
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism I. 19 If two curves are such that one of them may be transformed into the other by continuous motion without at any time passing through any part of space for which the condition of having a potential is not fulfilled, these two curves are called Reconcileable curves.
B. n.
A reconcilable person.
ΚΠ
1869 Times 9 June 8/6 His ability and character are such that, if ever the Empire be reconciled with the Reconcilables by the abolition of a personal government, he is likely to be called to a high place in the national councils.
1905 Daily Chron. 20 Apr. 4/5 There are reconcilables and irreconcilables in the dissentient section of the Unionist party.
2007 Korea Times (Nexis) 18 Sept. Petraeus and Crocker try to strike deals with ‘reconcilables’ in Anbar province and the Shiite militias.
Derivatives
ˈreconcilably adv.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > absence of dissension or peace > bringing about concord or peace > [adverb] > in reconciliatory manner
reconcilably1724
1724 S. Clarke XVII Serm. xiii. 283 He may likewise, reconcilably with his Goodness, make all Variety of Creatures.
1725 J. Collier Several Disc. 197 Except we are kindly and reconcileably disposed towards our Neighbour.
1882 Chester (Pa.) Times 31 Oct. 1/5 The morality of the rank and file..will compare reconcilably with those who are..striving to engender an untruthful and unreliable impression.
1989 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86 2206 This conclusion is reconcilably constrained, by the feasibility of crosslinking position 273 with Cys-697.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1574