I. ˈkəm(p)(f)təbəl, -m(p)fə(r)d.əb-, -m(p)fə(r)təb- also ÷ -m(p)fə(r)b- or ÷ -m(p)(f)tərb- adjective
Etymology: Middle English comfortable, confortable, from Middle French confortable, from conforter + -able
1. : affording solace, sustenance, delight : comforting:
a. : consoling : extending consolation : cheering, encouraging : dispelling worry
her presence warmed the atmosphere … she herself was a most comfortable little person — Willa Cather
for God's sake speak comfortable words — Shakespeare
b. obsolete : refreshing , sustaining
c. : uplifting or delighting spiritually or mentally
comfortable religious contemplation
2. : enjoying or showing solace or good cheer
sooner than she could have supposed it possible … her spirits became absolutely comfortable — Jane Austen
3.
a. : giving or promising physical ease, pleasurable feeling, ample convenience or cheerful well-being : calculated to operate against unpleasant feelings, distress, oppression, difficulty, or want
a comfortable fit
a comfortable summer suit
a more comfortable automobile
comfortable houses set in spacious grounds — American Guide Series: Pennsylvania
a makeshift arrangement not altogether … comfortable for either of us — Havelock Ellis
b. : conducive to mental or spiritual ease, relaxation, placidity : occasioning no challenging difficulty, disconcerting obscurity, or worrying uncertainty
the home team had a comfortable 7 to 1 lead in the eighth
irregular war was … more exhausting than service in the comfortable imitative obedience of an ordered army — T.E.Lawrence
comfortable compromises — V.L.Parrington
the world will probably keep on getting better and better, which is a very nice comfortable thought — Atlantic Monthly
c. : assuring or affording an easy tranquillity about money or a convenient, pleasant, and secure way of living, although without great wealth
retiring on a comfortable income
in comfortable circumstances by reason of prize money — C.O.Paullin
4. : enjoying or showing comfort and ease:
a. : at ease physically : in a restful situation : without urgent unsatisfied wants : free from pain, irritation, stricture, or other unpleasant feelings : relaxed
making himself comfortable in an armchair
treatment by which the person with hay fever may be made more comfortable — Morris Fishbein
b. : at ease mentally or socially : free from vexation, worry, doubt, fear : not disturbed or perturbed : placid , unruffled
comfortable in his allegiance to his king
Lamb was comfortable in his ignorance of what he did not choose to know — John Mason Brown
c. : in assured or easy circumstances especially financially : not hard pressed or harried by exigency
a comfortable , though by no means affluent family — Times Literary Supplement
Synonyms:
comfortable , cozy , snug , easy , restful , and reposeful describe that which makes for contented tranquil ease and enjoyment. comfortable stresses absence of matters vexatious, worrisome, irritating, or painful in any way
“I fear I should not be happy in that company …” “Then I give in. Do whatever will be most comfortable to yourself” — Thomas Hardy
“Thank God for colonels”, thought Mrs. Miniver; “sweet creatures, so easily entertained, so biddably diverted from senseless controversy into comfortable monologue” — Jan Struther
cozy suggests warmth, shelter, and ease, and hints tranquillity and friendliness
Wimsey gratefully took in the cozy sitting room, with its little tables crowded with ornaments, its fire roaring behind a chaste canopy of velvet overmantel — Dorothy Sayers
snug indicates secure and assured warmth and comfort usually in compact quarters
Lady D. will find us in rather a smaller house than we are accustomed to receive our friends in, but it's snug — W.M.Thackeray
easy implies absence of anything likely to cause physical, social, or mental discomfort
there's a pleasant feel in being gently … pinioned fast to the easy armchair — Robert Browning
restful , applicable to indoor and outdoor situations, and the less common reposeful apply to whatever induces rest or repose
a restful, friendly room, fitted to the uses of gentle life, covered, when it must be covered, with beauty — Mary Austin
I … drank in deep, calm gladness from the sweet, restful scene — the gray old church with its clustering ivy and its quaint carved wooden porch, the white lane winding down the hill between tall rows of elms — J.K.Jerome
the secretary's office, which his wife endowed with ship's lamps, ship's bells, crossed naval swords, and a generally reposeful colonial decor — Time
comfortable , cozy , snug , and easy may all describe an assured financial position. In reference to persons, comfortable , cozy , and snug may indicate mere absence of discomfort or, more positively, a pleasant, relaxed, warm, contented feeling
we found the doctor and Zeke making themselves comfortable. The latter was reclining on the ground, pipe in mouth — Herman Melville
Mrs. Carewe, faced with impecunious widowhood, had successfully daydreamed herself right out of bleak reality into cozy semiinvalidism — Edna Ferber
there must be no open windows or drafty cracks to disturb his cozy reflections — M.R.Cohen
ere that the fisherfolk were all snug under thatch and sheltering wall, breathing the cabin's air of gold, safe from blue storm and nipping cold — G.W.Russell
all the gypsies and showmen who had remained on the ground lay snug within their carts and tents — Thomas Hardy
II. noun
( -s )
1. chiefly Britain : a knitted wristlet
2. chiefly Britain : comforter 3a
3. chiefly North : comforter 3b