What does ratability mean?
Ratability is a formal noun denoting the quality of being ratable, meaning capable of being assessed, evaluated, or assigned a rate. It is especially associated with specialized contexts in which an item receives a standardized rating or attracts a charge, including insurance, taxation, property, and formal evaluation. In such contexts, ratability can refer either to the basic possibility of such an assessment or to the degree to which it can be carried out. The word is uncommon in everyday conversation; speakers will usually find the adjective ratable or the fuller noun rateability more natural. Although ratability has a broadly understandable structure, it is worth recognizing because it names a process underlying many administrative and financial systems: a rate can be applied only when the relevant subject is considered assessable. The alternative spelling rateability is also standard.
nounThe quality or condition of being ratable; the fact that something can be assessed or assigned a rate.
- The quality or condition of being capable of assessment, rating, or assignment of a rate.
"The committee questioned the ratability of the proposed development before approving the revised budget."
"The ratability of the property determined which schedule of charges applied to it."
"Researchers debated the ratability of subjective judgements before designing the new assessment system."
The plural is possible but uncommon because the word usually appears in singular constructions.
"The report compared the ratabilities of several types of property."
Ratable means capable of being assessed; ratability turns that idea into the machinery of taxes, insurance, and evaluations.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does ratability come from?
Ratable was formed in English from rate and the suffix -able, with rate continuing Old French rate and Latin rata, a feminine form meaning calculated or assessed. The noun ratability was subsequently formed from ratable with the noun-forming suffix -ity. It belongs to a wider group of English and Latin-derived words connected with the Latin root associated with reckoning, including ratio and rational.
Related word forms
How ratability is actually used
This is an uncommon noun, chiefly used in legal, financial, insurance, taxation, and evaluation contexts. Ordinary speakers are more likely to use the adjective ratable than to refer explicitly to something's ratability.
Easily confused with ratability
Rateability is an established alternative spelling of ratability and has the same meaning.