tenable

adjective

ten·​a·​ble ˈte-nə-bəl 

: capable of being held, maintained, or defended : defensible, reasonable

tenability

ˌte-nə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

noun

tenableness noun

tenably

ˈte-nə-blē 

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.

Synonyms

• defendable
• defensible

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

But as the virus continues to spread among livestock animals such as cows, relying on mass culling may not be as tenable. —Jess Craig, Vox, 14 May 2024

Moscow is now a pariah, and business as usual with Beijing is no longer tenable. —Stephen Kotkin, Foreign Affairs, 6 Apr. 2022

The finds clearly show that this single-file scheme is no longer tenable. —Kate Wong, Scientific American, 1 Sep. 2020

With the average pickup truck now over 19 feet in length, and most cars exceeding eight feet in width, what was tenable in a 24x24 is now downright impossible in a 20x20 space. —Bradley Brownell / Jalopnik, Quartz, 5 June 2024

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

Kids Definition

tenable

adjective

ten·​a·​ble ˈten-ə-bəl 

: capable of being held, maintained, or defended

a tenable argument