Reliable

English

Adjective

Reliable (comparative more Reliable, superlative most Reliable)

1. Suitable or fit to be relied on; worthy of dependence or reliance; trustworthy

   A reliable witness to the truth of the miracles. -- Andrews Norton.

   The best means, and most reliable pledge, of a higher object. -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

   According to General Livingston's humorous account, his own village of Elizabethtown was not much more reliable, being peopled in those agitated times by unknown, unrecommended strangers, guilty-looking Tories, and very knavish Whigs. --Washington Irving.

2. (signal processing, of a communication protocol) Such that either a sent packet will reach its destination, even if it requires retransmission, or the sender will be told that it didn't

Synonyms

• secure

Antonyms

• unreliable

Derived terms

• reliableness
• reliably
• semireliable

Related terms

• reliability
• reliance
• rely

Noun

Reliable (plural Reliables)

1. Something or someone reliable

   the old reliables

Thesaurus

absolute, accurate, adducible, admissible, apposite, attestative, attested, attestive, authentic, authenticated, balanced, based on, believable, calculable, certain, circumstantial, circumstantiated, cogent, colorable, compelling, conceivable, conclusive, confirmed, conscientious, convincing, cool, credible, cumulative, damning, decisive, dependable, determinative, documentary, documented, evidential, evidentiary, ex parte, eye-witness, factual, fail-safe, faithful, faithworthy, fast, fiducial, fiduciary, final, firm, firm as Gibraltar, firsthand, founded on, grounded on, guaranteed, harmless, hearsay, honest, honorable, imperturbable, implicit, in equilibrium, incontrovertible, incorruptible, indicative, indisputable, inerrable, inerrant, infallible, invincible, inviolable, invulnerable, irrefutable, irresistible, material, meaningful, nuncupative, overwhelming, plausible, predictable, presumptive, principled, probative, proven, punctilious, reputable, responsible, riskless, safe, secure, significant, solid, sound, stable, staunch, steadfast, steady, straight, substantial, suggestive, sure, surefire, symptomatic, telling, tenable, tested, to be trusted, tried, tried and true, true, trustable, trusted, trustworthy, trusty, undangerous, unerring, unexceptionable, unfailing, unfalse, unflappable, unflinching, unhazardous, unimpeachable, unperfidious, unperilous, unprecarious, unquestionable, unrisky, unshakable, untreacherous, unwavering, valid, validated, verified, warranteed, weighty, well-balanced, well-founded, well-grounded, without nerves, worthy of faith

Etymology

From Scottish raliabill, itself from to rely + -able

Pronunciation

• enPR: rĭ-līʹə-bəl, IPA: /rɪˈlaɪəbəl/, SAMPA: /rI"laI@b@l/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aɪəbəl

Translations

Adjective

fit to be relied on

Czech: spolehlivý (cs) Dutch: betrouwbaar (nl), zeker (nl) Finnish: luotettava (fi) French: fiable (fr) German: verlässlich (de), zuverlässig (de) Greek: αξιόπιστος (el) (aksiopistos) m. Hebrew: אמין (he) (amin)

Hungarian: megbízható (hu), szavahihető (hu) Italian: affidabile (it) m. and f. pl. Portuguese: fiável (pt) Scottish Gaelic: seasmhach (gd) Spanish: fiable (es) West Frisian: fertroud (fy)

The translations below need to be checked.

Translations to be checked

French: fiable (fr), sûr (fr) Swedish: pålitlig (sv) Indonesian: reliabel (id)

See also

• 15px Reliability on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:Reliability

Noun

someone to be relied on

Dutch: getrouwe (nl) m.

something to be relied on

Dutch: zekerheid (nl)