dissolvableadj.
Capable of being dissolved; dissoluble.
1. Capable of being separated or reduced into its formative elements; decomposable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or breaking up into constituent parts > [adjective] > separated into constituents > able to be
resoluble?a1425
dissoluble1534
dissolvable?1541
resolvible1652
discerpible1655
discerptible1667
resolvable1771
analysable1784
decomposable1784
decompoundable1797
decomponible1859
?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens ii. sig. Iij For the substaunce seldom dyssoluable lyghtly it [the liver] oughte to haue medycyne somwhat styptyke.
1661 E. Burrough Just & Righteous Plea Ded. 1 You are but men..and your substance but dissolvable clay.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. iii. 86 Man that is even upon the intrinsick constitution of his nature dissolvible.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. v. 112 A composition intrinsecally dissolvable.
1861 L. L. Noble After Icebergs 114 It [an iceberg] is as dissolvable as the clouds from which it originally fell.
2. Capable of being liquefied or melted; fusible; soluble. ? Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > making or becoming liquid > action or process of dissolving > [adjective] > soluble
solublec1400
dissoluble1651
dissolvable1653
liquable1658
solvable1669
1653 H. More Antidote against Atheisme i. xi. 39 The Braines generally are easily dissolvable into a watry consistence.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. 169 Dissolvable, by Water, or by Fire.
1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 95. ⁋3 Children, when crossed..how dissolvable they are into Tears.
1733 G. Cheyne Eng. Malady i. v. 38 Salts..hard, and dissolvible only by Water.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 461 All the metals, excepting platina and gold, are dissolvable by aqua fortis.
3. Of a connection, union, society, etc.: Capable of being undone or having its existence put an end to; terminable, destructible.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > separation or isolation > [adjective] > that may be dissolved
dissoluble1642
dissolvable1642
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > loosening or unfastening > [adjective] > loose, unfastened, or untied > loosened, unfastened, or untied > able to be
soluble1613
dissolublea1623
dissolvable1642
1642 in Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion (1888) II. v. 153 Did not the people that sent them look upon them as a body but temporary, and dissoluble [1702 dissolvable] at his majesty's pleasure?
1686 J. Scott Christian Life: Pt. II II. vii. 1038 The obligations of divine Commands are dissolvable only by divine Countermands.
1861 J. R. Lowell E Pluribus Unum in Prose Wks. (1890) V. 63 We are not a mere partnership, dissolvable..by mutual consent..but a nation.
Derivatives
dissolvaˈbility n. (also dissolvibility) (in Richardson 1836)
diˈssolvableness n. (in Craig 1847).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1896; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adj.?1541