certifiable

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   capable of being officially certified, verified, or guaranteed

   The inspector found the material certifiable under the new safety standard.

2. 2
   adj

   informal and dated: considered sufficiently mentally ill to be legally institutionalized; by extension, wildly irrational

   His proposal sounded so reckless that one critic jokingly called it certifiable.

From certify + -able. The literal sense is 'able to be certified.' The colloquial psychiatric sense arose from legal certification for compulsory institutional treatment and is now often used loosely or offensively.

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