crossable
crossable — adjective
- crossablepositive
- more crossablecomparative
- most crossablesuperlative
1. A road, river, mountain, or similar obstacle is crossable when there is a way to
A road, river, mountain, or similar obstacle is crossable when there is a way to reach the far side.
After heavy rain, the small stream swelled up and was no longer crossable on foot.
adverb + crossable: no longer crossable
The mountain path was only crossable in summer when all the snow had melted.
Wide rivers are crossable by boat, but heavy trucks need a strong bridge instead.
Lucía studied the frozen lake carefully before deciding it was crossable on skis.
The old wooden bridge was still crossable, though it shook a little under Andrew's weight.
- passable
More general; can also apply to roads blocked by snow or construction
- traversable
More formal, emphasizes the action of moving across a larger area
- navigable
Typically used for waterways that ships or boats can travel on
- uncrossable
Direct opposite
- impassable
Stronger, suggests even careful effort cannot get through
文法句型
[physical barrier] + be + crossable
[physical barrier] + be + crossable + by + [means of transport]
用法筆記
Most often appears with adverbs such as 'barely', 'still', or 'no longer' before the adjective. The subject is always the obstacle itself, not the person crossing it.
常見錯誤
2. Describes a living organism, such as a flower or breed of livestock, that can br
Describes a living organism, such as a flower or breed of livestock, that can breed with a different type to create hybrid offspring.
Biologists discovered that the wild orchid was crossable with a common garden variety.
crossable with [different species or variety]
In class, Indra learned that lions and tigers are crossable, though natural hybrids are rare.
Farmers have known for centuries that certain wheat types are crossable with each other.
The lab tested whether the two fish species were crossable under controlled water conditions.
Hassan's research showed that this rare fruit tree is crossable with a hardier Asian relative.
- compatible
Broader term in breeding; can also describe disease compatibility in medicine
- hybridizable
More technical, used mostly in academic biology texts
- incompatible
Cannot produce offspring together
文法句型
[species] + be + crossable + with + [other species]
用法筆記
Frequently appears in scientific writing about genetics and agriculture. The species being bred together are typically from the same genus. Distinguish from sense 1 (PHYSICAL BARRIER), where "cross" means to move across rather than to interbreed.