Comfortable means feeling physically relaxed and free from pain, or emotionally at ease and not worried. It can also describe things that provide this feeling, like clothes, furniture, or situations.
From Old French *confortable* “helping, strengthening,” from Latin *confortare* “to strengthen.” The meaning shifted from “strength-giving” to “physically and emotionally easy and pleasant.”
When you say a chair is comfortable, you’re really saying, ‘This thing strengthens me by not draining my energy.’ Emotional comfort works the same way—if a person is comfortable to be around, they don’t exhaust your mental or social energy.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.