Reliable

Pronunciation

• enPR: rÄ­-līʹə-bÉ™l, IPA: /rɪˈlaɪəbÉ™l/
• Rhymes: -aɪəbÉ™l

Origin

From Scottish raliabill, itself from to rely + -able

Full definition of reliable

Adjective

1. Suitable or fit to be relied on; worthy of dependence or reliance; trustworthyA reliable witness to the truth of the miracles. -- Andrews Norton.The best means, and most reliable pledge, of a higher object. -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge.According to General Livingston's humorous account, his own village of Elizabethtown was not much more reliable, being peopled in those agitated times by unknown, unrecommended strangers, guilty-looking Tories, and very knavish Whigs. --Washington Irving.
2. (signal processing, of a communication protocol) Such that either a sent packet will reach its destination, even if it requires retransmission, or the sender will be told that it didn't

Synonyms

• secure
• dependable

Antonyms

• unreliable

Derived terms

• reliableness
• reliably
• semireliable

Related terms

• reliability
• reliance
• rely

Noun

1. Something or someone reliable or dependablethe old reliables