different between inhabitable vs uninhabitable

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?hæb?t?b?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?n?hæb???b?l/
• Hyphenation: in?hab?it?a?ble

Etymology 1

inhabit +? -able.

Adjective

inhabitable (comparative more inhabitable, superlative most inhabitable)

1. Fit to live in; habitable.

Usage notes

While the usage is obsolete, inhabitable can also be an antonym of habitable and have the opposite meaning to that intended. Where such confusion might arise, one may prefer to use habitable or another synonym. Compare inflammable.

Antonyms

• uninhabitable
• unhabitable

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French inhabitable, from Latin inhabitabilis (“uninhabitable”)

Adjective

inhabitable (comparative more inhabitable, superlative most inhabitable)

1. (obsolete) Not habitable; not suitable to be inhabited.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, [Act I, scene i], lines 62–66:

     […] Which to maintaine, I would allow him oddes, / And meete him, were I tide to runne afoote, / Euen to the frozen ridges of the Alpes, / Or any other ground inhabitable, / Where euer Engli?hman dur?t ?et his foote.

Usage notes

Inhabitable can also be an antonym of uninhabitable and have the opposite meaning to that intended. Where such confusion might arise, one may prefer to use uninhabitable or another synonym. Compare uninteresting. Fortunately, this opposite meaning is obsolete and the sense of "suitable for life" is far more prevalent today.

French

Etymology

From Middle French inhabitable, from Latin inhabitabilis (“uninhabitable”), as if in- +? habitable

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.na.bi.tabl/
• Rhymes: -abl
• Homophone: inhabitables

Adjective

inhabitable (plural inhabitables)

1. uninhabitable

Further reading

• “inhabitable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Adjective

inhabitable (plural inhabitables)

1. uninhabitable

   Antonym: habitable

English

Etymology

un- +? inhabitable

Adjective

uninhabitable (comparative more uninhabitable, superlative most uninhabitable)

1. Not fit for people (or other living things) to live in; not able to be inhabited.

   Synonyms: unlivable, unoccupiable, (obsolete) unhabitable

   Antonym: inhabitable

   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, Scene 1,^[1]

     Though this island seem to be desert,— […]

     Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,—

   • 1937, George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier, Penguin, 1962, Part 1, Chapter 4, p. 53,^[2]

     Then there is the misery of leaking roofs and oozing walls, which in winter makes some rooms almost uninhabitable.

Derived terms

• uninhabitably

Translations