solvable

• solvible (obsolete)

solve +‎ -able. Doublet of soluble.

solvable

1. Capable of being solved.

   Synonym: soluble

   Antonyms: unsolvable, insolvable, insoluble

   a solvable problem

   • 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, London: William Shrowsbery, “De homine,” Chapter 2, p. 56,

     Intellective Memory, which I call an act of the intellective faculty because it is wrought by it, though I do not inquire how or where, because it is not solvible:

   • 1732, Henry Home, Lord Kames, Essays upon Several Subjects in Law, Edinburgh, “Beneficium cedendarum actionum,” p. 19,

     Questions of this Nature may be easily solvable in the simple Cases.

   • 1856, Abraham Lincoln, Speech delivered before the first Republican State Convention of Illinois, Bloomington, 29 May, 1856, in Arthur Brooks Lapsley (ed.), The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, New York: The Lamb Publishing Company, Volume 2, p. 271,

     It is a very strange thing, and not solvable by any moral law that I know of, that if a man loses his horse, the whole country will turn out to help hang the thief; but if a man but a shade or two darker than I am is himself stolen, the same crowd will hang one who aids in restoring him to liberty.

   • 1886, Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge, London: Smith, Elder, Volume 1, Chapter 17, p. 211,

     Would Mr. Farfrae stay in Casterbridge despite his words and her father’s dismissal? His occult breathings to her might be solvable by his course in that respect.

   • 2010, Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question, New York: Bloomsbury, Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 97,

     This is a mystery that is solvable with a phone call.

2. (obsolete) Capable of being dissolved or liquefied.

   Synonym: soluble

   Antonyms: unsolvable, insolvable, insoluble

   • 1664, John Chandler (translator), Van Helmont’s Works, London: Lodowick Lloyd, A Treatise of Fevers, Chapter 8, p. 971,

     […] they administer Pearles, and Corrals being beaten to dust or dissolved in distilled vinegar, or the juice of limons, and again dryed, and solvable in any potable liquour:

3. (obsolete) Able to pay one's debts.

   Synonym: solvent

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section 4”, in James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, OCLC 913056315, book, page 131:

     […] although imprisonment was imposed by law on persons not solvable, yet officers were unwilling to cast them into goale,

   • 1703, John Dennis, A Proposal for Putting a Speedy End to the War, London: Daniel Brown and Andrew Bell, p. 19,

     The Government is solvable in case of Loss, whereas private Men often fail;

4. (obsolete, rare) Capable of being paid and discharged.[1]

   solvable obligations

• insolvable
• solvability
• solvableness
• unsolvable

From Latin solvere with -able.

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solvable (plural solvables)

1. solvent

• “solvable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.