tenable

adjective

ten·​a·​ble ˈte-nə-bəl How to pronounce tenable (audio)
: capable of being held, maintained, or defended : defensible, reasonable
tenability noun
tenableness noun
tenably adverb

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Hold Onto the Meaning of Tenable

Tenable means "holdable". In the past it was often used in a physical sense—for example, to refer to a city that an army was trying to "hold" militarily against an enemy force. But nowadays it's almost always used when speaking of "held" ideas and theories. If you hold an opinion but evidence appears that completely contradicts it, your opinion is no longer tenable. So, for example, the old ideas that cancer is infectious or that being bled by leeches can cure your whooping cough now seem untenable.

Examples of tenable in a Sentence

the soldiers' encampment on the open plain was not tenable, so they retreated to higher ground the tenable theory that a giant meteor strike set off a chain of events resulting in the demise of the dinosaurs
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Doing nothing at a position of need didn’t feel tenable, but this player for this price (a first in 2027) doesn’t really add up. Jonas Siegel, The Athletic, 8 Mar. 2025 While there have long been rumblings that Casey DeSantis would one day run for office, the prospect of that happening became more tenable during a Palm Beach County donor event last week where the plan was discussed as a possible reality in 2026, NBC News reported. Ana Ceballos, Miami Herald, 8 Feb. 2025 In order to change the status quo and make Housing First a more tenable system in the city, the officials argued legislative changes would be required on state and federal levels to ease restrictions around the low-income housing tax credit and other funding streams. Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News, 30 Jan. 2025 And all this criticism without any sense of whether the ceasefire was really meant to be tenable for long. Melik Kaylan, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tenable

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French, going back to Old French, "capable of being defended against attack," from tenir "to hold, have possession of" + -able -able — more at tenant entry 1

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tenable was in 1579

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Cite this Entry

“Tenable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenable. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

tenable

adjective
ten·​a·​ble ˈten-ə-bəl How to pronounce tenable (audio)
: capable of being held, maintained, or defended
a tenable argument

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