observable

English

Etymology

From observe +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /əbˈzɜː.və.bəl/, [əbˈzɜː.və.bɫ̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /əbˈzɝ.və.bəl/, [əbˈzɝ.və.bɫ̩]

Adjective

observable (comparative more observable, superlative most observable)

1. Able to be observed.

   The strange new star was at the edge of the observable universe.

   • 2004, John Lukacs, A New Republic: A History of the United States in the Twentieth Century:

     In 1913, in the same year that Mother's Day became a nationally observable holiday, the American people passed another milestone: for the first time in American history more than one person in one thousand was divorced.

   • 2008, David J. Teece, Technological Know-how, Organizational Capabilities, and Strategic Management:

     Although intellectual property rights, such as patents, are highly observable, they are mostly limited to product technologies. Process technologies, or the routines endemic in the firm's production, are not readily observable, and thus cannot be easily imitated.

2. Deserving to be observed; worth regarding; remarkable.

Synonyms

• (able to be observed): noticeable, perceivable; see also Thesaurus:perceptible
• (deserving to be observed): eminent, noteworthy; see also Thesaurus:notable

Derived terms

• observable universe

Translations

able to be observed

• Bulgarian: видим (bg) (vidim), забележим (bg) (zabeležim)
• Catalan: observable
• Czech: pozorovatelný m
• Dutch: observeerbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: observebla
• Finnish: havaittavissa oleva, havaittava (fi)
• French: observable (fr)
• German: beobachtbar (de)
• Italian: osservabile (it)
• Polish: obserwowalny (pl)
• Portuguese: observável
• Russian: наблюда́емый (ru) (nabljudájemyj), обозри́мый (ru) (obozrímyj)
• Spanish: observable (es)

deserving to be observed

• Bulgarian: забележителен (bg) (zabeležitelen)
• Finnish: huomionarvoinen

Noun

observable (plural observables)

1. (physics) Any physical property that can be observed and measured directly and not derived from other properties

   Temperature is an observable but entropy is derived.

   In quantum mechanics, observables correspond to Hermitian operators. Also, they act a lot like random variables. Taking their expected value one may recover something resembling a classical observable.

Translations

any physical property

• French: observable (fr) f

French

Etymology

From observer +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.sɛʁ.vabl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

observable (plural observables)

1. observable

   Antonym: inobservable

Derived terms

• observabilité

Related terms

• observance
• observant
• observateur

Further reading

• “observable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin observābilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /obseɾˈbable/ [oβ̞.seɾˈβ̞a.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: ob‧ser‧va‧ble

Adjective

observable m or f (masculine and feminine plural observables)

1. observable

   Antonym: inobservable

Related terms

• observación
• observacional
• observador
• observancia
• observante
• observar
• observatorio

 

Further reading

• “observable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28