defensible
/dɪˈfɛnsɪb(ə)l
/adjective
1Justifiable by argument: a morally defensible penal system...
- But are the censors' actions justified or defensible?
- This is a substantially weaker thesis, and I shall assume for purposes of argument that it is defensible.
- I'm not sure how much of this is reasonable, defensible, arguable.
Synonyms
justifiable, arguable, tenable, defendable, maintainable, sustainable, supportable, plausible, well founded, sound, sensible, reasonable, rational, logical, able to hold water;
acceptable, satisfactory, valid, legitimate, warrantable, permissible, excusable, pardonable, understandable, condonable, vindicable
2Able to be protected: a fort with a defensible yard at its feet...
- This is to support the people of the country and to secure defensible borders for them.
- But if they decided to move in strength, he would never be able to stop them, however defensible the Gullet might be.
- The tactic of climbing over the side of the mountain, rather than maintaining a defensible position, was not militarily sound.
Synonyms
secure, safe, fortified, protectable, able to be protected, holdable;
invulnerable, impregnable, impenetrable, unattackable, unassailable
Derivatives
defensibility
/ noun ...- But hopefully it will also allow us to increase our defensibility.
- Once the matter is formulated in this way, however, the important question is not so much the defensibility of the modest essentialist position as its significance.
- Legal defensibility of the tests is also an important component.
defensibly
/ adverb ...- In some ways Lewis's theory is the diametric opposite of the equally clear-cut theory first proposed by Jaakko Hintikka (that Cubism is rigorously and defensibly realism) - a theory Lewis in effect ascribes to Clark.
- A design problem in writing a short piece is that insufficient space to say things defensibly inevitably generates misunderstandings.
- Commercial country music might defensibly be described as a ‘verbal’ art form.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'capable of giving protective defence'): from late Latin defensibilis, from Latin defendere (see defend).