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sustainability.

The ability to sustain something.

14 characters6 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/səˌsteɪnəˈbɪlɪti/UK/səˌsteɪnəˈbɪləti/Canada, US[səˌsteɪnəˈbɪləɾi]Canada, US/səˌstæɪnəˈbɪlɪti/Australia
  1. The ability to sustain something. A means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, planning and acting for the ability to maintain these necessary resources for future generations.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The ability to sustain something. The ability to sustain a business in the long term, which is a state that is partly dependent on, but broader than, profitability today or in the short term; it involves aspects of a plausible path toward eventual profitability (as applies to a startup) and ecologic sustainability (for example, the long-term dependence of the timber/lumber industry on forest preservation and renewal, or of fisheries on viable fish stocks).

    countable · uncountable
    The making of buggy whips is the proverbial exemplar of a business without sustainability in the face of technological change.
  3. The ability to sustain something. The ability to sustain a civic practice or process in the long term, such as democracy, entrepreneurialism, a war effort, or others.

    countable · uncountable
    universal primary and secondary education, without which the sustainability of innovation and entrepreneurialism seems questionable
  4. The ability to sustain something.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English sustain Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Italic *-ðlom Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin -abilitas Middle French -abletébor. Middle English -ablete English -ability English sustainability From sustain + -ability.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.