Standard Lemma guide

portability

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P AO2 R T AH0 B IH1 L IH0 T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality of being portable.

The ability of a program (or software system) to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences, software

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The quality of being portable.

The ability of an employee to move between different social security schemes without losing their contributions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The quality of being portable.

The ability of a telephone subscriber to keep their number when switching to a different network.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the quality of being light enough to be carried

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: movability, movableness

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English portable Proto-Indo-European *-teh2 Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh2ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English portability From portable + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: portabilitat — quality of being portable
  • Czech: přenosnost — quality of being portable
  • Finnish: siirrettävyys — quality of being portable
  • French: portabilité — quality of being portable
  • Greek: φορητότητα (foritótita) — quality of being portable
  • Italian: portabilità — quality of being portable
  • Romanian: portabilitate — quality of being portable
  • Spanish: portabilidad — quality of being portable
  • Catalan: portabilitat — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • French: portabilité — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • Galician: portabilidade — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • German: Rufnummernmitnahme — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • Greek: μεταφερσιμότητα (metafersimótita) — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • Portuguese: portabilidade — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • Romanian: portabilitate — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • Spanish: portabilidad — the ability of a program to execute properly on multiple hardware platforms
  • German: rufnummernmitnahme — the ability of a telephone subscriber to keep their number when switching to a different network