One Step Now Education
November 6, 2026
deplorable
This word came up when a student and I were looking at a relative. This relative is a word often found in social studies, so I thought a complete exploration of the family might be useful. 😉
During our exploration, we’ll find out more about adjectives and how they function as subject complements. We’ll clarify what affixes do and don’t “mean,” and look at how they might be intensifiersinstead. We’ll straighten out the suffix <-able> while we’re at it, and how its productivity complicates a spelling choice.
Meaning
What is this word’s meaning and how does the word function?
I often turn to the Collins Dictionary because they are a good source of “student-friendly” definitions. Let’s compare the definition of deplorable in a more traditional dictionary like Merriam-Webster:
Merriam Webster: deserving censure or contempt
Collins: you think that it is very bad and unacceptable
Right away, you can see why Collins is preferable. Most of the students I work with wouldn’t know what contempt means, let alone censure. Something new I’ve noticed in Merriam-Webster entries is a toggle for a simple definition:
MW: very bad in a way that causes shock, fear, or disgust
Much better, but I still prefer the Collins, which is written as if someone is speaking to you.
Regardless of which resource you use, once my student understands the definition, I often seek to make a connection to the student’s life.
“What are some things you find deplorable?”
Some of my students are very creative and can speak at length about a topic. Others aren’t as verbal and might need a little prompting along the way.
“I’ll say two things. You tell me which one is deplorable: other kids laughing at a joke or other kids laughing at someone’s size.”
I might also provide a starter.
“Finish this for me. When I walked into the kitchen, the conditions were deplorable. There were…”
This first question in the Four Question Framework isn’t just about a word’s definition, however. It’s also about how a word functions in our language. The entry in Collins tells us our word is an adjective. In Structure, we’ll look at an element in the word that tells us the word can be an adjective. Adjectives have several functions in English, including modifying.
the deplorable conditions in the kitchen
the deplorable behavior of the children
In those phrases, deplorable is modifying the nouns conditions and behavior. In the phrase above about the kitchen, the word is functioning as a subject complement.
When I walked into the kitchen, the conditions were deplorable.
Subject complements give us more information about the subject. They follow a linking verb like were. We can think of them as completing the clause; the sentence wouldn’t stand otherwise. It lacks a finish.
When I walked into the kitchen, the conditions were.
Structure
What are the elements that make up this word’s structure?
The suffix <-able> is a sign that our word can function adjectivally.
deplore/ + able
The suffix <-able> looks just like the word able, so I’m careful to teach the suffix <-able> is not “able to.” In fact, the suffix <-able> and the word able aren’t even related. The word able comes from Latin habere, “hold,” but the suffix is from a different root.
I could further hypothesize that the <de> at the beginning is a prefix.
de + plore/ + able
The <de> is a prefix on words like defrost or debate. This prefix is one I often think of when I deplore lists of affixes I see online. A prefix or suffix lends any lexical weight it has to the base it is attached to; therefore, it doesn’t have a “meaning” on its own. In some words, a prefix <de> means “off.” In others it means “away.” In still others, it might be an intensifier, or a prefix that simply increases the force of the base. This may be its function in debate.
When I turn to the entry for deplorable in Etymonline, I see that the stem of deplore can be further analyzed as I suspected. We now have evidence for our hypothesis.
de + plore/ + able
At this point, I might ask my student which of the three elements is the base, since every word is or has a base. Our base here is <plore>. The base <plore> is from a Latin verb, plorare, which means to “weep; cry out.” Certainly, if we find something bad or unacceptable, we might “cry out.”
But what about its relationship to that relative from social studies the student and I were looking at?
Relatives
What are the word’s relatives and history?
You may have determined by now that the student and I were looking at the word explore. However, even though it looks as if it has the same base, we must look to see if it actually belongs in the same family of the root plorare.
Indeed it does, with a sense of “cry out.” ex + plore. The word came to us in the 1580s, a time of great exploration around the world. Many European countries were seeking out new lands. When a new place was discovered, did the explorer “cry out” about their discovery? Some sources disagree with this connection to “crying out” as you may read in the Etymonline entry.
Regardless, we can add it to a matrix, a display of a morphological family’s elements. We can add explorerand unexplored. We could include exploratory and exploration. We could also add a prefix <im> to get implore, a word with an orthographic denotation of “cry upon.”
Graphemes
What can the pronunciation of the word teach us about the relationship of its graphemes and its phonology?
The challenge in spelling this word may be the homophonic suffixes <-able> and <-ible>. Both suffixes are pronounced with a schwa, so it’s often difficult to determine if the schwa should be spelled with an <a> or an <i>.
There are many “tips and tricks” you can find online to assist with this endeavor. Some say that if you can remove the suffix and still have a word, then <-able> is your spelling. Certainly that works here, as we still have the word deplore. However, that word isn’t all that common. And what about this tip for words like untenable, where I’m left with unten?
A fairly decent rule of thumb is to look at the original Latin verb. Those ending in the infinitive suffix <-are> in Latin tend to be spelled with <-able> in English. If it ends with <-ere> or <-ire> in Latin, then use <-ible> in English. Again, this works for our word deplorable, but it doesn’t work for dependable or perishable from the Latin pendere and perire.
That’s because the <-able> suffix was sometimes used haphazardly in French spellings. In addition, the suffix is still productive, meaning we still use it to form new words. We’ve attached it to English words like believe(believable) and still use it in words like Google-able.
Next Steps
What concepts from this investigation can we explore next to learn more about the English orthographic system?
If you have students who have trouble using words in context, try giving choices or providing starters.
What are other uses of the prefix <de>? (Big Ideas #4)
Try collecting words that use <-able> and <-ible>. See what patterns your students notice. (Big Ideas #4)
I have so much more fun exploring words like this with my students than I ever did with visual and auditory drill. The best part, though, is that my students are finding words fascinating too. Studying words scientifically makes word study less deplorable.
Stay curious,
Brad
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P.S. Want me to feature your word in an upcoming issue? Reply to this email and let me know what it is.
P.P.S. Many prefixes can be intensifiers. The prefix <re> in resolve isn’t “solving back” or “solving again,” two “definitions” commonly assigned to this prefix. We also have the <ex-> in exacerbate. We see the sense of intensity in the very meaning of that word and not the “out” commonly assigned to that prefix.
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