vindicableadj.
/ˈvɪndᵻkəbl/, U.S. /ˈvɪndəkəb(ə)l/ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > reciprocal treatment or return of an action > revenge > [adjective] > inclined to or eager for revenge
wrechefulc1290
wrakefula1300
vengeablec1380
revengeablea1522
vindicative1521
wreakful1531
vengible1548
revengeful?1560
avengeful1591
vengefula1599
vindictive1616
vindicable1632
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. i. 7 Any obuious obiect of disastrous misfortune: or perhaps any vindicable action, [which] might from an vnsetled ranckour be conceiued.
2. Capable of being vindicated; admitting of being justified or maintained.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > immunity or exemption from liability > justification > [adjective] > vindicated > able to be
vindicable1647
1647 Eng. Mountebank Cast. Sickly Water State 5 Their freedoms, liberty of person, property of Estates given away and become meere Notions, and not vindicable, nor preservable by Law.
1713 London Gaz. No. 5090/1 The most vindicable Quarrel can be imagin'd.
1736 S. Chandler Hist. Persecution 436 I think this manner of subscribing to Creeds..is infamous in its nature, and vindicable upon no principles of conscience and honour.
1775 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opinions (1783) II. xlviii. 39 I think every work of God vindicable.
1836 J. Halley in W. Arnot Mem. (1842) 61 Feelings which were natural, but by no means vindicable.
1846 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 II. viii. 336 Hostilities in this campaign were generally prosecuted in a stern and inflexible spirit, vindicable, perhaps, by the cruelty and treachery of the Mahratta princes.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1632