Meaning 1
Capable of succeeding under real conditions.
Reach for it when judging whether a plan, option, or organization can work and continue
Shared transport made the rural clinic financially viable.
Meaning 2
Able to live, grow, or develop.
Reach for it when describing biological material with the capacity for continued life
The seed bank found that most samples were still viable.
| Meaning 1 | Meaning 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| everyday | ||
| warm | ||
| professional |
|
|
everyday
Fits when real-world convenience is the central test
Careful A practical option may still fail for lack of financing or demand.
everyday
Fits when a plan can be carried out in practice
Careful Workable may solve the immediate task without being sustainable over time.
warm
Fits when early evidence supports cautious hope
Careful Promising is prospective and does not show that success is already possible.
professional
Fits when available resources and constraints permit the action
Careful A feasible option may still lack the support or durability needed to be viable.
professional
Fits when continued operation without exhausting resources matters
Careful A sustainable approach may still be politically or technically unviable.
everyday
living
Fits when current life rather than future growth is the fact
Careful Living material can be damaged or unable to reproduce, so it may not be viable.
professional
Fits when reproduction or productive growth is the exact capacity
Careful Fertile is narrower and does not apply to every viable cell, tissue, or fetus.
professional
germinable
Fits when a seed can specifically sprout
Careful Germinable applies to seeds and spores, not organisms or tissue generally.
viable option
Repair remains a viable option if replacement parts arrive this month.
commercially viable
The cooperative became commercially viable without raising member fees.
remain viable
Cool, dry storage helped the rare seeds remain viable.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
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