comfortability

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English

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WOTD – 9 June 2021

Etymology

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From comfort +‎ -ability (suffix forming nouns from verbs, denoting an ability, inclination, or suitability for a specified function or condition), or comfortable +‎ -ity (suffix forming nouns from adjectives, referring to the property, quality, or state of conforming to [the meaning of the adjective]).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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comfortability (countable and uncountable, plural comfortabilities)

  1. Synonym of comfort (“contentment, ease”)
    Antonyms: discomfort, uncomfortability
    • 1831, [Auguste Louis Charles, Comte de La Garde-Chambonas], chapter XV, in Journal of a Nobleman; Comprising an Account of His Travels, and a Narrative of His Residence at Vienna, during the Congress. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 156–157:
      "I must introduce you," said Mr. Griffiths, when he called on me one morning, "to a countryman of mine, who now rivals Foneron in giving dinners; but whose luxurious extravagance bids fair soon to eclipse the unostentatious comfortability of Foneron's Friday parties."
    • 1888, Frederick Langbridge, “Jack Gets a Promotion and Starts a Tail-coat”, in Rider’s Leap, London: Hatchards, […], →OCLC, page 239:
      When these elegancies and comfortabilities were suitably disposed—as, you may be sure, they were that very evening—the little reception-room was, so Mrs. Green declared, quite the 'genteelest' in Wickham.
    • 1899, Honoré de Balzac, “Twenty-eighth Meditation: Of Compensations”, in G[eorge] Burnham Ives, transl., Physiology of Marriage: Petty Worries of Conjugal Life […] (The Human Comedy: Philosophic and Analytic Studies; IX), volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: […] George Barrie & Son, →OCLC, page 70:
      If so many husbands arrive at conjugal peace by pleasant gradations, and wear so gracefully the imaginary insignia of matrimonial power, their philosophical demeanor is upheld doubtless by the comfortability of certain compensations, which idlers cannot appreciate.
    • 1992 September 30, Shigetoshi Doi et al., Vehicle Air-conditioning Apparatus, US Patent 5,433,266 (PDF version), column 3:
      The foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained, according to the present invention, by an air-conditioning apparatus for a vehicle comprising: […] control means for setting a target outlet air temperature and a target outlet air volume of the apparatus; wherein said control means includes comfortability index setting means for setting a comfortability index which is a function of operating conditions including at least an outlet air temperature and an outlet air volume and which is an indication representing a degree of a passenger's comfort; […]
    • 2001, Kwan S. Lee, Hyung T. Shim, “A Study o[n] the Design of Wristbands for Mouse Users”, in Michael J. Smith, Gavriel Salvendy, editors, Systems, Social and Internationalization Design Aspects of Human–Computer Interactions, volume 2, Mahwah, N.J., London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, →ISBN, page 421:
      The performance time was measured and the comfortability level was asked at the end of the experiment.
    • 2004, Ingemar Nordgren, “Description of the Known History of the Goths”, in The Well Spring of the Goths: About the Gothic Peoples in the Nordic Countries and on the Continent, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 357:
      The shapes of the pottery on the other hand seem to be classic forms and principally the same as the ostrogothic Kiev-forms. Accordingly it deals with a continuous adaptation to the comfortabilities of the Roman civilisation.
    • 2013, Xinbo Chen, Yunyun Lu, Bin Wang, “Research and Design of a New Kind In-wheel Driving System”, in Krzysztof Galkowski, Yun-Hae Kim, editors, Advances in Mechatronics and Control Engineering II […] (Applied Mechanics and Materials; 433–435), Dürnten, Zürich, Switzerland: Trans Tech Publications, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 33:
      Body acceleration influences passengers' ride comfortability directly, and relative dynamic load of vehicle wheel affects adhesion effect between road and ground, which concerns about handling stability and driving safety.
  2. Synonym of comfortableness (“the quality or state of being comfortable or relaxed”)
    Antonyms: discomfort, uncomfortability, uncomfortableness
    • 1828 January 1, “Walks in Rome and Its Environs.—No. XI. Roman Society.—The Ambassadors.”, in The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, volume XXII, part I (Original Papers), number LXXXV, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 29:
      [I was] smiling at the petulant activity of the tottering Cardinal de Heflin, the Bavarian minister, or the rough etourderie of the Wirtemberg envoy and the grave comfortability of the Dutch, when I heard suddenly announced, with a brilliant and numerous suite, the Austrian ambassador, the Count [Antal] Appony.
    • 1840, Henry Cockton, “In which a Variety of Matters are Explained”, in The Life and Adventures of Valentine Vox, the Ventriloquist, London: Robert Tyas, […], →OCLC, page 585:
      Oh! very well; but you take my advice, sir; don't you let her stop: if you do, you only study the comfortabilities of a man which has a soul as never can and never ought to be saved.
    • 1841, “Art. I.—Denkwürdigkeiten und vermischte Schriften, von K[arl August] Varnhagen von Ense. 4 vols. 8vo. Mannheim: Hoff. 1837–8. Neue, 1ster Band. Brockhans, 1840. [book review]”, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume XXVI, London: Black and Armstrong, […], →OCLC, page 250:
      England is the native country of freedom, sound reason, manliness, magnanimity, and comfortability.
      Stated in a footnote to be a translation of the German word Behaglichkeit.
    • 2001, Nancy London, “Out of the Mouths of Babes”, in Hot Flashes, Warm Bottles: First-time Mothers over Forty (A Kirsty Melville Book), Berkeley, Calif., Toronto, Ont.: Celestial Arts, →ISBN, page 167:
      On the upside, there was [among children of older parents] a very strong sense of being very much wanted, which included the benefit of lots of time, attention, and encouragement, and a comfortability in the company of other adults.
    • 2004, Edward Marx, “The Tagore Era”, in The Idea of a Colony: Cross-culturalism in Modern Poetry, Toronto, Ont., Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 80:
      One felt that here was a dissector carving out our foolish boasts and our smug comfortabilities into their essentials, and finding, for the most part, little or nothing …
    • 2004, Billy Bai, Clark Hu, Jeffrey Elsworth, Cary Countryman, “Online Travel Planning and College Students: The Spring Break Experience”, in Juline E. Mills, Rob Law, editors, Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet, Binghamton, N.Y.: The Haworth Hospitality Press, Haworth Press, →ISBN, section 2 (Travel Website User Characteristics), page 87, column 1:
      Results of multinomial logistic regression indicated that the easiness of meeting the vacation budget and comfortability of providing credit card information for online purchases increase the probability of respondent satisfaction with the online spring break planning process, while the more time that was used to search for an online vacation the less the likelihood of achieving higher level of satisfaction.
    • 2012, Cara Jones, Philip Richardson, “Stepping into Comfortable Old Shoes: ‘The Consequence of Archaeological Comfortability’”, in Hannah Cobb, Oliver J. T. Harris, Cara Jones, Philip Richardson, editors, Reconsidering Archaeological Fieldwork: Exploring On-site Relationships between Theory and Practice, New York, N.Y., Heidelberg: Springer, →DOI, →ISBN, page 94:
      We feel that comfortability breeds value judgments, value judgements which are used by the commercial archaeologist, the curator or even a student on a research excavation, to determine how much attention one feature gets. It is this implication, this assured value judgement, on which the serious consequence of comfortability becomes apparent. If we as archaeologists see something as 'known' and abundant, does it become of low importance? Often it does, and as a consequence less time and money spent on that feature.

Usage notes

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Although the word comfortability looks (etymonically) like one of its senses could be synonymous with consolability, it does not have that sense; the absence of that sense is simply a lexical gap. In parallel, the same is true of comfortable and consolable, as well as uncomfortable and inconsolable.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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