feasible

adjective

fea·​si·​ble ˈfē-zə-bəl 

1

: capable of being done or carried out

a feasible plan

2

: capable of being used or dealt with successfully : suitable

3

: reasonable, likely

gave an explanation that seemed feasible enough

feasibility

ˌfē-zə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

noun

feasibly

ˈfē-zə-blē 

adverb

feasibleness noun

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Feasible and Doable

Feasible comes from faire, the French verb meaning “to do.” Doable and feasible therefore originally meant literally the same thing: “capable of being done.” Indeed, doable was formed with -able, the Latin-derived French ending meaning “capable of” combined, in this instance, with do, a word with roots in Old English and one of the most basic and useful of our verbs. Though their respective etymological meanings may overlap, doable and feasible exist more in parallel with each other than as true synonyms. As with most such pairs of words, the Latin-derived term is used when describing more abstract notions. The words most commonly modified by feasible include:

option

alternative

solution

plan

approach

These are words that describe what has yet to be decided or what will be carefully considered. By contrast, doable modifies more concrete terms:

task

thing

target

Feasible is used when an element of abstraction, distance, and technical specificity is needed. The more earthy doable is rarely used in formal writing, and is not found in the works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, or any of the founding documents of the United States.

This abstract use of feasible also accounts for the word that expresses a putative, conceptual, or hypothetical state: feasibility. Indeed, we frequently encounter “feasibility study” but not “doability study” (although doability is a word that is sometimes used, it hasn’t yet been added to most dictionaries). As long as something is just an idea, it’s feasible. When it’s time for action, we need to find out if it’s doable.

Synonyms

• achievable
• attainable
• doable
• possible
• practicable
• realizable
• viable
• workable

Choose the Right Synonym for feasible

possible, practicable, feasible mean capable of being realized.

possible implies that a thing may certainly exist or occur given the proper conditions.

a possible route up the west face of the mountain

practicable implies that something may be effected by available means or under current conditions.

a solution that is not practicable in the time available

feasible applies to what is likely to work or be useful in attaining the end desired.

commercially feasible for mass production

Examples of feasible in a Sentence

Egyptian hieroglyphics … are also usually assumed to be the product of independent invention, but the alternative interpretation of idea diffusion is more feasible than in the case of Chinese writing. —Jared M. Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel, 1997

… there do not appear to be any remedies for this situation that are at once politically feasible and likely to work. —Richard A. Posner, Times Literary Supplement, 1 Sept. 1995

The '70s was the era in which it seemed more important, or more feasible, to reform our bodies than to change the world. —Barbara Ehrenreich, Utne Reader, May/June 1992

The government has now made it feasible for tourists to spend as long as a month in the country … —Fred C. Shapiro, New Yorker, 22 Oct. 1990

looking for a feasible way to create new jobs

would it be feasible to build a cabin in so short a time?

Recent Examples on the Web

Here’s why pre-filtering isn’t feasible: Shared Storage: A single database might contain texts from multiple contacts, app communications, and system logs all in one file. —Lars Daniel, Forbes, 6 Dec. 2024

Following the hibernation period, NASA decided to reactivate the WISE spacecraft under the NEOWISE mission, with a more specialized focus on detecting near-Earth objects, which was still feasible even without the cryogenic cooling. —Toshi Hirabayashi, Discover Magazine, 5 Dec. 2024

However, weddings are expensive, and adding so many extra names may not be feasible for a couple and their budget. —Marissa Miller, Vogue, 5 Dec. 2024

The explosion of legal data, coupled with advances in natural language processing (NLP) and large language models, makes this approach feasible for the first time. —Brooke Seipel, Fortune, 4 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English faisible, feseable, borrowed from Anglo-French fesable, faisable, from fais-, stem of faire "to make, do" (going back to Latin facere) + -able -able — more at fact

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

feasible

adjective

fea·​si·​ble ˈfē-zə-bəl 

: possible to do or carry out

feasibility

ˌfē-zə-ˈbil-ət-ē 

noun

feasibleness

ˈfē-zə-bəl-nəs

noun

feasibly

-blē 

adverb