palatable
/ˈpælətəbl/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈpælətəbl/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈpa-lə-tə-bəl/ (ame, mw)
palatable — adjective
1. (of food or drink) tasting good enough to enjoy eating or drinking, even if it i
(of food or drink) tasting good enough to enjoy eating or drinking, even if it is not delicious — for example, a soup that is plain but still nice to swallow.
Maya added a little salt and lemon to make the bland fish soup more palatable.
make + noun + more palatable
The hospital meals were dry and cold, but the rice pudding was at least palatable.
predicative use after 'be'
Carlos boiled the wild mushrooms for an hour to make them safe and palatable.
After three days at sea, even plain bread and warm tea tasted wonderfully palatable.
The cookbook shows how to turn cheap cuts of meat into palatable family dinners.
- tasty
more positive and informal; suggests genuinely enjoyable flavour
- edible
weaker — only means 'safe to eat', without saying it tastes good
- appetizing
stresses that the food looks or smells inviting before you taste it
- unpalatable
directly opposite — tasting bad enough that eating it is unpleasant
- inedible
stronger — cannot be eaten at all, not just unpleasant
用法筆記
Often used to describe food that is acceptable rather than truly delicious; chefs and food writers prefer 'tasty' or 'delicious' for genuine praise. Frequently appears in the pattern 'make something (more) palatable'.
常見錯誤
2. (of an idea, plan, or fact) easy enough for people to agree to or live with, eve
(of an idea, plan, or fact) easy enough for people to agree to or live with, even when it is not what they really want — for example, a tax rise softened by extra services.
The mayor reworded the policy to make it more palatable to local business owners.
make + noun + more palatable to + somebody
Sharing an office with strangers was not a palatable idea for Lina.
predicative + 'idea' as subject complement
Cutting jobs is never palatable, but the factory had no other way to survive.
The truth about the accident was hard to hear, but Marcus presented it in a palatable way.
Adding free training made the new working hours palatable to most of the staff.
- acceptable
broader and more neutral; 'palatable' adds the sense of being made easier to swallow
- agreeable
more positive — suggests people actively like it, not just tolerate it
- tolerable
weaker — only means 'just bearable', without the softening effort
- unpalatable
hard to accept — used of unwelcome news, truths, or decisions
- unacceptable
stronger — cannot be agreed to at all
文法句型
palatable + to + somebody
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: this sense never applies to food or drink. Subject is typically an idea, plan, news, or proposal. Often follows the pattern 'make X (more) palatable to Y', where Y is the person or group being persuaded.