TENABLE - 11 definitions found
tenable adj 1: based on sound reasoning or evidence; "well-founded suspicions" [syn: tenable, well-founded] tenable beltane Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) tenable adjective Etymology: Middle French, from Old French, from tenir to hold, from Latin tenēre — more at thin Date: 1579 capable of being held, maintained, or defended ; defensible, reasonable • tenability noun • tenableness noun • tenably adverb Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary tenable If you say that an argument, point of view, or situation is tenable, you believe that it is reasonable and could be successfully defended against criticism. This argument is simply not tenable... ≠ untenable ADJ English Explanatory Dictionary tenable ˈtenəbl adj. 1 that can be maintained or defended against attack or objection (a tenable position; a tenable theory). 2 (foll. by for, by) (of an office etc.) that can be held for (a specified period) or by (a specified class of person). øøtenability n. tenableness n. [F f. tenir hold f. L tenere] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Tenable \Ten"a*ble\, a. [F. tenable, fr. tenir to hold, L. tenere. See Thin, and cf. Continue, Continent, Entertain, Maintain, Tenant, Tent.] Capable of being held, naintained, or defended, as against an assailant or objector, or againts attempts to take or process; as, a tenable fortress, a tenable argument. If you have hitherto concealed his sight, Let it be tenable in your silence still. --Shak. I would be the last man in the world to give up his cause when it was tenable. --Sir W. Scott. Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms tenable a. Defensible, maintainable, capable of being held or defended. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) tenable ˈtenəbl adj. defensible, supportable, justifiable, maintainable, workable, viable, defendable, plausible, reasonable, rational, arguable, believable, credible, creditable, imaginable, conceivable, possible: Copernicus showed that Ptolemaic cosmology was no longer tenable. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 42 Moby Thesaurus words for "tenable": OK, acceptable, admissible, agreeable, all right, alright, arguable, believable, colorable, conceivable, condonable, credible, creditable, defendable, defensible, excusable, fiduciary, good enough, imaginable, impregnable, justifiable, maintainable, okay, passable, plausible, possible, rational, reasonable, reliable, secure, supportable, trustworthy, trusty, unexceptionable, unimpeachable, unobjectionable, unquestionable, viable, vindicable, warrantable, workable, worthy of faith |
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