tenable
5
7.1
- adjective
- /ˈtɛnəbl/
- Formal
:
tenible
- Her argument is tenable because it is supported by reliable evidence and sound reasoning.
- no longer tenable
- tenable hypothesis
- less tenable
You you can address what that means and whether that's something that is tenable for you long term or not.
- You you can address what that means and whether that's something that is tenable for you long term or not.
- And the idea of like not having that in my life was just not, you know, tenable.
- For a narcissistic person who is being narcissistically abused, the chronic ego injuries are simply not tenable.
- It's not, it's not tenable and sustainable.
- It's not redundant and it's not just not tenable in the in, it's in the business model.
- And what makes for a good belief versus a maybe not so tenable or good belief?
- But I think there's probably more to it than that, that that copying has ceased to be quite as central or as tenable to the process of note taking.
Examples
-
Your position is no longer tenable... regardless of how management is restructured.
-
Projects were financed by means of external borrowing, a strategy that could not be tenable for long (Zimbalist and Weeks, 1991).
Academic text (1993) -
And this is not a tenable situation going forward.
-
If the concept of "nature" is no longer tenable, how are we to understand ourselves?
Academic text (1995) -
But opening the door a little wider is also a tenable approach.
Academic text (2003) -
But with the Cold War over, these patterns are no longer tenable.
Academic text (1996) -
Is such a view tenable with scientific integrity?
Academic text (1991) -
In light of newly gathered data, however, it no longer looks so tenable.
Academic text (1991) -
Would you agree with that compendium, Private Benjamin, as a tenable thesis?
Academic text (2007) -
As China's reemergence continues, policy instruments not previously tenable will become realistic options for the Middle Kingdom.
Blog text (12)
Synonyms
37
5.1
Fair or acceptable because of the situation
10
4.2
Having good evidence or clear reasons for something people think is true
7
8.2
Very honest and reliable so people cannot doubt it
2
4.9
Able to be defended with good reasons
Antonyms
How Defensible
Surface Forms
Morphology
tenable = ten + able
Although the suffix '-able' is productive ('able to be'), the root 'ten' is a non-productive combining form (not a standalone English word), so learners cannot derive the meaning from familiar English components.
Etymology
Tenable comes from the old root ten-, from Latin tenere, meaning 'to hold', and you can see the same root in words like retain. So, if an idea is tenable, it can be 'held' in argument and defended or supported with good reasons.