observable

From observe + -able.

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /əbˈzɜː.və.bəl/, [əbˈzɜː.və.bɫ̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /əbˈzɝ.və.bəl/, [əbˈzɝ.və.bɫ̩]

observable (comparative more observable, superlative most observable)

1. Able to be observed.

   The strange new star was at the edge of the observable universe.

   • 2004, John Lukacs, A New Republic: A History of the United States in the Twentieth Century:

     In 1913, in the same year that Mother's Day became a nationally observable holiday, the American people passed another milestone: for the first time in American history more than one person in one thousand was divorced.

   • 2008, David J. Teece, Technological Know-how, Organizational Capabilities, and Strategic Management:

     Although intellectual property rights, such as patents, are highly observable, they are mostly limited to product technologies. Process technologies, or the routines endemic in the firm's production, are not readily observable, and thus cannot be easily imitated.

   • 2019 January 8, Nina Avramova, “AI technology can identify genetic diseases by looking at your face, study says”, in CNN‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 November 2022:

     He added, in an email to CNN, that “the collection of increasingly large and well curated medical datasets has enabled AI tools to predict genetic mutations from imaging phenotypes reducing the burden of healthcare systems and improving the way we care for patients.” Phenotypes are observable characteristics.

2. Deserving to be observed; worth regarding; remarkable.
   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     Both were observable figures; one a personable individual of foreign cut, the other—obviously in spite of his well-wrapped-up form—a pronounced cripple.

• (able to be observed): noticeable, perceivable; see also Thesaurus:perceptible
• (deserving to be observed): eminent, noteworthy; see also Thesaurus:notable

observable (plural observables)

1. (physics) Any physical property that can be observed and measured directly and not derived from other properties

   Temperature is an observable but entropy is derived.

   In quantum mechanics, observables correspond to Hermitian operators. Also, they act a lot like random variables. Taking their expected value one may recover something resembling a classical observable.

From observer +‎ -able.

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.sɛʁ.vabl/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

observable (plural observables)

1. observable

   Antonym: inobservable

• observabilité

• observance
• observant
• observateur

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

Borrowed from Latin observābilis.

• IPA^(key): /obseɾˈbable/ [oβ̞.seɾˈβ̞a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: ob‧ser‧va‧ble

observable m or f (masculine and feminine plural observables)

1. observable

   Antonym: inobservable

• “observable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025