ANSWERABLE Synonyms: 40 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How does the adjective 'answerable' contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of answerable are accountable , amenable , liable , and responsible . While all these words mean "subject to being held to account," answerable suggests a relation between one having a moral or legal obligation and a court or other authority charged with oversight of its observance. // an intelligence agency answerable to Congress

Q: Where would 'accountable' be a reasonable alternative to 'answerable'?

The synonyms accountable and answerable are sometimes interchangeable, but accountable suggests imminence of retribution for unfulfilled trust or violated obligation. // elected officials are accountable to the voters

Q: How do 'amenable' and 'liable' relate to one another, in the sense of 'answerable'?

Both amenable and liable stress the fact of subjection to review, censure, or control by a designated authority under certain conditions. // laws are amenable to judicial review // not liable for the debts of the former spouse

Q: When can 'responsible' be used instead of 'answerable'?

The meanings of responsible and answerable largely overlap; however, responsible implies holding a specific office, duty, or trust. // the bureau responsible for revenue collection

answerable

adjective

ˈan(t)-s(ə-)rə-bəl

Definition of answerable

as in responsible

being the one who must meet an obligation or suffer the consequences for failing to do so you are answerable for your own conduct at all times

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in resolvable

capable of having the reason for or cause of determined they say this equation is not answerable

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective answerable contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of answerable are accountable, amenable, liable, and responsible. While all these words mean "subject to being held to account," answerable suggests a relation between one having a moral or legal obligation and a court or other authority charged with oversight of its observance.

an intelligence agency answerable to Congress

Where would accountable be a reasonable alternative to answerable?

The synonyms accountable and answerable are sometimes interchangeable, but accountable suggests imminence of retribution for unfulfilled trust or violated obligation.

elected officials are accountable to the voters

How do amenable and liable relate to one another, in the sense of answerable?

Both amenable and liable stress the fact of subjection to review, censure, or control by a designated authority under certain conditions.

laws are amenable to judicial review

not liable for the debts of the former spouse

When can responsible be used instead of answerable?

The meanings of responsible and answerable largely overlap; however, responsible implies holding a specific office, duty, or trust.

the bureau responsible for revenue collection

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of answerable By making the commissioner answerable to the governor, the piece suggests voters will have a clearer figure to hold responsible if schools fail to improve. — Los Angeles Times, 13 July 2026 Our lame-duck governor is happily corrupt and no longer answerable to Floridians. — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 30 May 2026 And being accountable means owning every vote, every decision, and being answerable to the people, not a political party. — Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 20 May 2026 What mine cost me was the full weight of Black comedy that thrived entirely on its own terms, answerable only to Black audiences and no one else. — Geoff Bennett, The Atlantic, 13 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for answerable

Recent Examples of Synonyms for answerable

Adjective

There is the muddled terrorist plot, the corrupt politician, the love interest who looks thirty to fifty years Breen’s junior; in fact, there are arguably two of them, and at least one is responsible for the betrayal .

— Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Parents who provide their kid a chance to build something real and to be responsible for, even something as small as a bin and a $10 rate, are giving them practice most people don't get until much later, if ever.

— Sarah Hernholm, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of responsible

Adjective

In a landmark decision, a jury found Meta and YouTube liable for intentionally designing their systems to be addictive by using features such as infinite scroll, autoplay, and push notifications.

— Schuyler Moore, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
Enacting a solution is liable to be a significant political battle, likely involving cutting benefits for some Americans or raising taxes on higher earners, or both.

— Ashley Lopez, NPR, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of liable

Adjective

In a later exchange, Cowdray conceded that much of Opperman’s characterization was on target, if explainable.

— Noah Shachtman, Vanity Fair, 25 Aug. 2026
The objective of this architecture was to transform data from a passive reference archive into an active, explainable decision-making framework.

— Filip Popovic, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of explainable

Adjective

Many of these high-fiber candies use isolated fibers, such as inulin, chicory root, soluble corn fiber, and other prebiotics.

— Amber Raiken, Verywell Health, 26 Aug. 2026
Phosphite is more soluble in water than phosphate and has been proposed before as a prebiotic source of phosphorus.

— Philip Ball, Scientific American, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of soluble

Adjective

Dig a bit deeper, and those four straight first-round defeats are a bit more explicable.

— Ava Wallace, New York Times, 5 July 2026
That’s the only explicable reason for Australians to be riled up by comments from a guy most American fans can’t pick out of a lineup, whose most productive season came for a club literally named the Rough Riders.

— Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026

Definition of explicable

Browse Nearby Words

answerability

answerable

answered

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“Answerable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/answerable. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of answerable

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