What's the difference between "amiable" and "amicable"?

JakeT. · Nov 13, 2009

So it's a random question but I was playing Scrabble online and could have used either word on the board but figured one was right and one was wrong and I was just confused in my head.

Anyway, after the game I looked them up and both have nearly the same definitions (score one for random memory).

So, do I use these words the exact same way? I need a grammar genius to figure this out so I don't sound stupid if I ever choose to use one of them in a sentence.

kingbill · Nov 13, 2009

Off the top of my head amiable would be a description of a person. And amicable would be a description of a relationship.

She is an amiable person so our relationship is amicable.

YourAllAmerican · Nov 13, 2009

kingbill nailed the correct answer right off the bat. Perhaps you should be a copyeditor, bill.

JakeT. · Nov 13, 2009

Thanks kingbill.

quantumleap · Nov 13, 2009

You know, there's this thing called google.com. You type in words like "amicable definition" and it lists several web pages that describe it.

:toast:

Santo · Nov 13, 2009

quantumleap said:
You know, there's this thing called google.com. You type in words like "amicable definition" and it lists several web pages that describe it.

:toast:

This joke works better with LMGTFY -- http://lmgtfy.com/?q=amicable+definition

JakeT. · Nov 13, 2009

quantumleap said:
You know, there's this thing called google.com. You type in words like "amicable definition" and it lists several web pages that describe it.

:toast:

I'd rather hear a human definition than the somewhat cryptic dictionary definition that is fairly vague as far as usage.