Re-lī'a-ble, a.

a. Suitable or fit to be relied on; worthy of dependence or reliance; trustworthy. “A reliable witness to the truth of the miracles of Jesus.” J. Norton.

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.” W. Irving.

To the use of this word, which is of recent introduction into the language, many take exception, maintaining that it is unnecessary, and irregular in formation. It is, however, a most convenient substitute for the phrase to be relied upon, and a useful synonym for trustworthy, which is by preference applied to persons, as reliable is to things, such as an account, statement, or the like. The assertion that adjectives derived from neuter verbs do not admit of a passive sense can not be maintained; for it is refuted by the occurrence, in good usage, of such words as laughable, worthy of being laughed at, from the neuter verb to laugh; available, fit or able to be availed of, from the neuter verb to avail; dispensable, capable of being dispensed with; and indispensable, the same word with the negative prefix in, from the neuter verb to dispense. Pope uses dependable in precisely the same sense as this word, and unaccountable is a word equally irregular. Other examples might be added. The derivatives from intransitive verbs, as perishable, &c., and the formatives from nouns, as objectionable, exceptionable, marriageable, may also be referred to as showing the absence of strict regularity in the use of the suffix in English. See UNRELIABLE.