- stable
- [[t]ste͟ɪb(ə)l[/t]]
♦♦stabler, stablest, stables, stabling, stabled1) ADJ-GRADED If something is stable, it is not likely to change or come to an end suddenly.
The price of oil should remain stable for the rest of 1992.
...a stable marriage.
Derived words:stability [[t]stəbɪ̱lɪti[/t]] N-UNCOUNTIt was a time of political stability and progress.
2) ADJ-GRADED If someone has a stable personality, they are calm and reasonable and their mood does not change suddenly.Their characters are fully formed and they are both very stable children.
Ant:3) ADJ-GRADED You can describe someone who is seriously ill as stable when their condition has stopped getting worse.The injured man was in a stable condition.
4) ADJ-GRADED Chemical substances are described as stable when they tend to remain in the same chemical or atomic state. [TECHNICAL]The less stable compounds were converted into a compound called Delta-A THC.
5) ADJ-GRADED If an object is stable, it is firmly fixed in position and is not likely to move or fall.This structure must be stable.
Syn:Ant:6) N-COUNT A stable or stables is a building in which horses are kept.7) N-COUNT A stable or stables is an organization that breeds and trains horses for racing.Miss Curling won on two horses from Mick Trickey's stable.
8) VERB: usu passive When horses are stabled, they are put into a stable.[be V-ed] The animals had been fed and stabled...
[V-ed] You should allow your stabled horse a couple of hours' freedom per day.
9) N-COUNT: with supp, usu N of n You can say that someone has a stable of people when they manage and promote the careers of that group of people.As chief executive, he assembled a polished stable of celebrities.
10) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone has closed or shut the stable door after the horse has bolted, you mean that they have tried to prevent something happening but they have done so too late to prevent damage being done.
English dictionary. 2008.
