permeable
adjective
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“Our landscapes are changing … they’re becoming less permeable to wildlife at the precise moment animals need to move most,” writes Ben Goldfarb in his book Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet. He’s describing the effects of highway infrastructure and at the same time clearly demonstrating the meaning of permeable, a word that traces back to a combination of the prefix per-, meaning “through,” and the Latin verb meare, meaning “to go” or “to pass.” Accordingly, a permeable landscape—such as one where humans have constructed wildlife overpasses—is one that allows animals to pass and spread through unimpeded. Permeable’s relative, the verb permeate (“to spread or diffuse through”) is another commonly used meare descendent, but other relations haven’t managed to permeate the language quite so widely, such as meatus (“a natural body passage”), congé (“a formal permission to depart”), and irremeable (“offering no possibility of return”).
Examples of permeable in a Sentence
Pat Sapinsley, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024
Soft and comfortable, but a bit thick and permeable for all but the coldest, driest winter conditions.
—Lisa Jhung, Outside Online, 20 Nov. 2024
After all, Algeria remains the primary economic and security power in the region and has a long, permeable border with Mali.
—Vish Sakthivel, Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2014
As simple as this sounds, anyone who has worked in higher education knows that most international boundaries are more permeable than faculty office spaces.
—Nicholas Ladany, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for permeable 
Dictionary Entries Near permeable
Cite this Entry
“Permeable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/permeable. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.
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permeable
adjective
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permeable
adjective
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