durable
/ˈdjʊərəb(ə)l
/adjective
1Able to withstand wear, pressure, or damage; hard-wearing: porcelain enamel is strong and durable figurative a durable peace can be achieved...
- They are simply not going to be able to maintain the durable equilibrium that market socialists want and believe possible.
- The car is not made of stainless steel but instead it's made of some kind of durable alloy that can withstand bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.
- Colonial hinged shutters are durable enough to withstand hurricane wind forces.
Synonyms
long-lasting, hard-wearing, heavy-duty, tough, resistant, strong, sturdy, stout, sound, substantial, imperishable, indestructible, made to last, well made, strongly made
lasting, long-lasting, long-lived, long-term, enduring, persisting, persistent, abiding, continuing;
constant, stable, secure, fast, firm, fixed, deep-rooted, permanent, unfading, undying, everlasting
1.1 informal (Of a person) having endurance: the durable Smith lasted the full eight rounds...
- I'm a durable guy and I've got up of the floor a bunch of times.
- Evidence suggests that he is less durable than his colleagues.
- He was extremely durable and has not committed an error.
noun (durables)
short for consumer durables.He estimates that the total retail spending on non-durables and durables will grow by approximately 1.5 percentage points less in 2004 than it did in 2003....
- Subtracting durables from the index reveals that high-frequency inflation - that is, prices for goods and services that are bought more frequently - is around 3% and has been edging higher recently.
- He pointed to a reduced spend on household durables of 0.5 per cent last year as proof that ‘the supposed pent-up demand predicted when guidelines were introduced does not exist and this must be taken into account in the review underway’.
Derivatives
durableness
/ noun ...- By our high quality level of materials and workmanship, the best results in reflex and durableness are achieved.
- Although the investment will be slightly higher than other materials, you will get your money back in the durableness and longevity of the material.
- The durableness of our products and the specialty and changeability of the styles make our corporation as strong strength in the battery and charger fields.
durably
/ adverb ...- Democratic legitimation is also sapped, less obviously but more durably, whenever the growing need for coordination, due to increasing interdependence, is met by interstate agreements.
- A photographic archive is a powerful link in the overall commemorative process; ancestral memory is more durably enshrined in a photo than in a gravestone.
- Nowadays, in a durably deflationary world, the game is different.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'steadfast'): via Old French from Latin durabilis, from durare 'to last' (see duration).
This came via Old French from Latin durabilis, from durare ‘to last, harden’. Obdurate (Late Middle English) comes from the same root.