availability

«availability» in Mova's school dictionary: Whether something can be got, bought or used right now — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (availability — mostly uncountable; availabilities — rare)

meaning for a pupil

1) Whether something can be got, bought or used right now. tree →

2) Whether a person is free to do something or meet someone at a certain time. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life it is used in shops, booking holidays and websites: «check availability». At school a teacher may ask about «your availability» for a match or club. It is a rather formal word; in plain talk people ask «Is it free?» or «Is it in stock?».

examples

• The website shows the availability of seats on the train. tree →
• Please check the availability of the swimming pool on Saturday. tree →
• Mum asked about the coach's availability for an extra practice. tree →
• The availability of fresh water is important for every town. tree →
• Toy availability is low just before Christmas. tree →
• Subject to availability, you can choose your own room. (formal) tree →
• The doctor has no availability until next week. tree →

note

Mostly uncountable: «availability», no «an». From the adjective «available» (able to be got or used). «Subject to availability» means only if there are some left. Spelling: avail-ab-il-ity, with -ility.

In the corpora

• What you see a lot feels common; grown-ups call this the availability trap.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «availability» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.