# viable

Pronunciation: US say "VY-uh-buhl" /ˈvaɪəbəl/; UK

## Adjective

1. Able to be carried out in practice; possible and worth considering as a real option.
   - Simple: Possible to actually do, with a real chance of working.
   - _After months of testing, the team finally had a viable plan for the product launch._
   - _Solar power became a viable alternative once installation costs dropped._
2. Capable of working or succeeding, especially in a way that can be sustained.
   - Simple: Able to keep going and do well over time.
   - _Investors questioned whether the startup was financially viable._
   - _The new funding made the recycling program viable for the first time._
3. Of a newborn or fetus, able to survive and live independently outside the womb.
   - Simple: Able to live on its own, as a newborn baby can.
   - _The infant was born at twenty-six weeks but was deemed viable by the doctors._
   - _A fetus is generally considered viable after about twenty-four weeks of pregnancy._
4. Able to live, grow, and develop.
   - Simple: Able to stay alive and grow.
   - _Researchers checked whether the frozen embryos were still viable._
   - _Only a fraction of the seeds remained viable after years in the vault._

## Noun

5. Any organism capable of staying alive and continuing to develop.
   - Simple: A living thing that can survive and grow on its own.
   - _After staining, the technician separated the viables from the dead cells._
   - _Each viable was placed in its own container for further study._

## Origin

English borrowed this word from French "viable," with some influence on its meaning from Latin "viābilis," meaning "passable."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/viable (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).