(pronounced MYOO-tuh-buhl)

These days, we’re so accustomed to using the “mute” button on our TV remotes and cell phones that you might think this word means “able to be silenced.” Well, you would be wrong. Instead of mute, think mutation. As in alteration, change, evolution. So mutable means capable of, prone to, or given to variation. Though change can be good, mutable can also have a more negative connotation. As in fickle or indecisive.

Example: Jesse’s increasingly mutable moods did nothing but cause his clients to doubt him, his sub-contractors to distrust him, and his architect interns to completely lose their respect for him.