permeable
adjective
Did you know?
“Our landscapes are changing … they’re becoming less permeable to wildlife at the precise moment animals need to move most,” writes Ben Goldfarb in his book Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet. He’s describing the effects of highway infrastructure and at the same time clearly demonstrating the meaning of permeable, a word that traces back to a combination of the prefix per-, meaning “through,” and the Latin verb meare, meaning “to go” or “to pass.” Accordingly, a permeable landscape—such as one where humans have constructed wildlife overpasses—is one that allows animals to pass and spread through unimpeded. Permeable’s relative, the verb permeate (“to spread or diffuse through”) is another commonly used meare descendent, but other relations haven’t managed to permeate the language quite so widely, such as meatus (“a natural body passage”), congé (“a formal permission to depart”), and irremeable (“offering no possibility of return”).
Examples of permeable in a Sentence
ABC News, 1 Apr. 2026
Future heat shields will feature design changes to fix the issue —specifically, a more permeable layer of outer material — NASA officials said.
—Denise Chow, NBC news, 26 Mar. 2026
Guthery plans to install a 600-square-foot permeable patio.
—Ricardo Torres, jsonline.com, 25 Mar. 2026
It’s all intertwined – the legal market has a symbiotic relationship with the black market, and there’s a permeable line between the two.
—Stuart Miller, Oc Register, 18 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for permeable
Cite this Entry
“Permeable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/permeable. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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permeable
adjective
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permeable
adjective
