• (America, Canada)
  • IPA: /ˈkʌmf.tə.bəl/, [ˈkʰʌɱ.ftə.bɫ̩], [ˈkʰʌɱ.fɾɚ.bɫ̩]
• (RP)
  • IPA: /ˈkʌmf.tə.bəl/, [ˈkʰʌɱf.tʰə̥.bɫ̩]
• (New Zealand)
  • IPA: /ˈkɐm.fɘ.tɘ.bɘl/, [ˈkʰɐɱ.fɾɘ.bl̩], [ˈkʰɐɱ.fɾɘ.bɯ]

comfortable (comparative comfortabler, superlative comfortablest)

1. Providing physical comfort and ease; agreeable. [from 18^thc.]

   This is the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in.

2. In a state of comfort and content. [from 18^thc.]

   What a great guestroom! I'll be quite comfortable here.

   • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546 ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860 ↗, page 0016 ↗:

     A great bargain also had been […] the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire. In fact, that arm-chair had been an extravagance of Mrs. Bunting. She had wanted her husband to be comfortable after the day's work was done, and she had paid thirty-seven shillings for the chair.

3. (obsolete) Comforting, providing comfort; consolatory. [14^th-19^thc.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection ii:

     he was going to make away himself; but meeting by chance his master Plotinus, who, perceiving by his distracted looks all was not well, urged him to confess his grief; which when he had heard, he used such comfortable speeches, that he redeemed him e faucibus Erebi […].

   • a comfortable provision made for their subsistence

4. Amply sufficient, satisfactory. [from 17^thc.]

   A comfortable income should suffice to consider oneself rich.

   The home team is ahead by a comfortable margin.

5. (obsolete) Strong; vigorous; valiant.
   • c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene vi]:

     Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For my sake be comfortable; hold death a while at the arm's end.

6. (obsolete) Serviceable; helpful.
   • c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene i]:

     Be comfortable to my mother, your mistress, and make much of her.

• (providing/enjoying comfort) comforting, comfy, cozy, eathful, restful, snug, cushy
• (safely reliable) safe

• comfortless, uncomfortable

• comforter
• discomfort

• Italian: comodo

• French: confortable
• German: komfortabel, bequem, behaglich, kommod
• Italian: confortevole, comodo
• Portuguese: confortável
• Russian: удо́бный
• Spanish: confortable

• German: gemütlich, wohlig
• Italian: comodo
• Portuguese: confortável
• Russian: удо́бный

comfortable (plural comfortables)

1. (US) A stuffed or quilted coverlet for a bed; a comforter.