portable

portable — adjective

1. small or light enough to take from place to place without much trouble.

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

small or light enough to take from place to place without much trouble.

Example

We packed a portable stove for the rainy mountain campsite.

portable + equipment noun

This speaker is portable, so Nia carries it to every picnic.

predicative: be portable

Common collocations
  • portable stove
  • portable speaker
  • portable fan
  • portable chair
  • portable machine
Synonyms
  • compact

    stresses small size more than ease of carrying

  • lightweight

    focuses on low weight, even if the item is not designed for travel

  • handheld

    narrower; used for items small enough to hold while using

  • mobile

    broader; can mean able to move or operate in different places

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

a portable + device/object

be portable

make + object + portable

Usage Note

Most often used for equipment, furniture, and tools. Distinguish from sense 2: here the key idea is easy carrying in the physical world, not whether something can move to a new job or work on another system.

Common Mistakes

This printer is small and portability.
This printer is small and portable.
portable is the adjective; portability is the noun.
I bought a portable of speaker for trips.
I bought a portable speaker for trips.
portable usually goes directly before the noun it describes.

2. able to go with you, or stay usable, when you change place, job, or computer sys

2.adjectiveC2
Definition

able to go with you, or stay usable, when you change place, job, or computer system.

Example

Lina's pension is portable, so she kept it after changing companies.

portable benefits after changing jobs

The team saved the notes in a portable file format for Windows and Mac computers.

portable file format across systems

Common collocations
  • portable pension
  • portable benefits
  • portable file format
  • portable code
  • portable across systems
Synonyms
  • transferable

    best for benefits, skills, rights, and plans that move with a person

  • compatible

    narrower; mainly used for software or files that work on different systems

  • reusable

    focuses on being usable again, not on moving to another place

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

portable benefits/pension

portable to + new place/job/system

portable between + places/systems

portable file format/code

Usage Note

Often used with abstract nouns such as benefits, pensions, skills, accounts, data, or file formats. Distinguish from sense 1: in sense 1 an object is easy to carry, while in sense 2 the important point is that something can move with you or still work elsewhere.

Common Mistakes

The file is portable, so it feels light in my bag.
The file is portable, so it opens on my new laptop too.
in this sense portable is about transfer or reuse, not physical weight.
Her pension is portable for her new job.
Her pension is portable to her new job.
this sense often uses to, between, or across to show the new place or system.

portable — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

For adjective sense 1, portable is the best general word for something made to be carried from place to place, such as a speaker, stove, or fan. Mobile is broader and often suggests something that can move or operate in different places, including phones, homes, or services. Compact mainly stresses small size, not carrying. Lightweight focuses only on low weight, even if the object is not designed for travel. Handheld is narrower again: it means small enough to hold while using. Use portable when easy carrying is the main idea: a portable heater for a market stall. Use handheld when size and method of use matter: a handheld scanner at the station.

portable ↗mobile ↗compact ↗lightweight ↗handheld

Common collocations

Nouns

  • portable speaker
  • portable stove
  • portable benefits
  • portable file format

Adverbs

  • highly portable
  • fully portable

Phrases

  • make something portable
  • keep your pension portable
  • save data in a portable format

Prepositions

  • portable across systems
  • portable between jobs
  • portable to another device

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Portable is built from a Latin word meaning 'carry' and a form that gives the idea 'able to'. In English, the basic meaning was 'able to be carried', and later the word widened to things like pensions, skills, data, and software that can move with a person or work in another system.