What does seasonable mean?
Seasonable means suited to a particular season, period, or occasion. The word is especially associated with the idea of appropriateness: foods, activities, or plans may be seasonable because their timing makes them suitable or useful. In older English, seasonable could also describe something capable of undergoing the process of seasoning, such as timber that has become sufficiently dry and workable. Although its meaning resembles that of seasonable, the spelling seasonable is much less common and now sounds somewhat literary or archaic. Most modern speakers use seasonable instead. The word is useful for discussing the relationship between suitability and timing, especially when contrasting what is appropriate in one season with what would be out of place in another. It can describe seasonal produce, weather-dependent activities, and broader choices that are well judged in relation to their moment.
Suitable or appropriate for a particular season or time.
"Fresh peas are at their best when they are genuinely seasonable."
This is the principal modern meaning, but the spelling is uncommon and often literary.
Capable of being seasoned or improved in quality.
"After several months in the warehouse, the timber was dry enough to be seasonable."
This sense is chiefly literary or obsolete and is not common in everyday modern English.
Seasonable captures the idea that good timing is itself a kind of suitability: what is fitting today may be entirely wrong tomorrow.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does seasonable come from?
Seasonable was formed in English from season and the suffix -able, originally expressing the idea of being suitable or fit for a season or time. It developed alongside the older and more familiar spelling seasonable. The English noun season was borrowed through Old French from a Latin word associated with sowing or the appropriate time for agricultural work.
Related word forms
How seasonable is actually used
Seasonable is uncommon in contemporary English and is easily mistaken for the more familiar seasonable spelling. Its older sense involving something capable of being seasoned is chiefly literary or obsolete.
Easily confused with seasonable
Seasonable is the more common spelling; the two words generally have the same meaning, although seasonable is also found in older usage meaning capable of being seasoned.