Question

there are a lot of uncomfortable glances. someone coughs.
i should get back to dublin.
what step next?
a cell phone comes out of a pocket. within seconds, the rest of the world’s five billion phones follow. all of them—even those compatible with the region’s towers—are displaying some version of “no signal”. the cell networks have all collapsed under the unprecedented load.
the t. f. green airport in warwick, rhode island handles a few thousand passengers a day. assuming they got things organized (including sending out scouting missions to retrieve fuel), they could run at 500% capacity for years without making a dent in the crowd.
think
question 4
the prefix com - means “together” or “in association with” something. based on this clue and any other common affixes, what is the meaning of compatible as it is used in paragraph 13 of the excerpt? write your definition here, explaining its roots and/or affixes.

Explanation:

The word "compatible" has the prefix com- (meaning "together/in association with") and the root pat- (from Latin pati, meaning "to suffer, endure"). In the context of cell phones and regional towers, this means the devices work together in harmony with the local network infrastructure, able to function or connect successfully with it.

Answer:

Compatible, as used here, means able to function together in harmony with the region's cell towers; formed from the prefix com- (together) and the root pat- (endure), indicating the phones can operate in association with the local network infrastructure.