portable

/ˈpɔrdəbəl/

/ˈpɔtəbəl/

Other forms: portables; portably

If something's portable, you can easily take it with you . You may carry your portable computer with you from class to class because it's small, light, and fits easily in your backpack.

First appearing around 1400, portable stems from the Latin word portare, meaning "to carry." Used as an adjective, portable describes something you can carry around easily. Used as a noun, it means a smaller, easy-to-carry version of something, like a computer or television. On a trip, you might take your portable so you can watch movies in the car. Before computers became popular, you might have carried around a lightweight typewriter called a portable.

Definitions of portable

1. adjective

   easily or conveniently transported
   “a portable television set”

   synonyms:

   man-portable

   portable by one man

   movable

   (of personal property as opposed to real estate) can be moved from place to place (especially carried by hand)

   take-away, takeout

   of or involving food to be taken and eaten off the premises

   antonyms:

   unportable

   not portable; not easily moved or transported
2. adjective

   of a motor designed to be attached to the outside of a boat's hull
   “a portable outboard motor”

   synonyms:

   outboard

   located away from the midline of a vessel or aircraft
3. noun

   a small light typewriter; usually with a case in which it can be carried
   type of:

   typewriter

   hand-operated character printer for printing written messages one character at a time