Tenable

//ˈten.ə.bəl// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    capable of being maintained or justified; well-founded usually

    "Back in the 1800s, many did not consider Darwin's theory of evolution to be tenable at all."

  2. 2
    Capable of being defended against assault or attack; defensible

    "The island of Melos undoubtedly fell within his general conceptions of tenable empire for Athens."

  3. 3
    Fit for habitation, similar, or related use.

    "In February, 1679, he was admitted "a planter" of the town and a home lot was granted him "on condition that it should have a tenable house built upon it within two years."

Adjective
  1. 1
    based on sound reasoning or evidence wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
acceptableadmissibleagreeableall rightalrightarguable

Example

More examples

"I think your theory isn't tenable."

Etymology

From the French tenable, from tenir (“to hold”); compare tenible.

Related phrases

well founded

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.