What does disbursable mean?
Disbursable is a formal financial and legal adjective meaning that money or another specified amount can be paid out. A disbursable balance or fund is one that is available for distribution under the applicable arrangement, although “available” does not necessarily mean that payment has already occurred. The word is especially common in contracts, accounting, grants, budgets, and institutional finance, where it distinguishes amounts that may properly be released from amounts that are not yet payable. In ordinary conversation, speakers are more likely to say payable, spendable, or available. Disbursable comes from disburse, an older verb meaning to pay out or distribute, and the suffix -able. Its history links it to bourse, the Old French word for a purse and the source of the family represented by English purse and bursar. The word is useful because it specifies permission or capacity to disburse, rather than merely describing the funds or promising future payment.
adjectiveCapable of being disbursed; available for payment or distribution.
- Capable of being paid out, distributed, or otherwise formally disbursed.
"The committee approved a disbursable balance of $25,000 for emergency travel."
"The committee approved a disbursable balance of $25,000 for emergency travel."
"Only the portion of the grant designated for direct research costs is disbursable."
If the money is disbursable, it is available to be paid out—not merely mentioned in a plan.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does disbursable come from?
Disbursable was formed from disburse with the suffix -able, so it literally means “able or eligible to be paid out.” Disburse comes through Old French desbourser, a verb formed from des-, meaning “un-” or “apart,” and bourse, meaning “purse,” ultimately from Latin bursa. The Latin-derived family also produced English purse and bursar, while disbursement continued the same monetary sense.
How disbursable is actually used
Chiefly used in formal financial, accounting, legal, grant, and administrative contexts. It often appears with words such as funds, money, balance, amount, or payment.
Easily confused with disbursable
Disburse is the verb meaning to pay out or distribute money, whereas disbursable is an adjective describing an amount that may be paid out.