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 of tenable

• defendable
• defended
• defensible
• secured
• protected
• secure

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 having said that, there is also a tenable argument against the team handing him a handsome pay raise. —Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 24 Apr. 2026

Nicks has said that isn’t tenable without Christine McVie, but the band toured heavily without her between 2003 and 2014. —Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 30 Mar. 2026

How tenable will an all-righty bench be over the medium to long term? —Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026

But the more tenable tea on the name involves eighteenth-century trading ships of the British Empire. —Andrew Norman Wilson, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026

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

Rhymes for tenable

• amenable
• untenable

Kids Definition

tenable

adjective

ten·​a·​ble ˈten-ə-bəl 

: capable of being held, maintained, or defended

a tenable argument