defensible
adjUK, US /dɪˈfɛn.sɪ.bəl/ · AU [dɪˈfen.sɪ.bɫ]
Etymology From Old French defensable, from Latin defensibilem. Equivalent to defense + -ible.
1
Usually, Of an installation Capable of being defended against armed attack.
- Not only were those cities fortified, but their architects based their whole system on the strategical possibilities of the site, and closely followed its defensible contours.1907, Ronald M. Burrows, The Discoveries In Crete, page 11:
2
Usually, Of an argument Capable of being justified.
- Those who are most familiar with the working of the present society are also usually interested in the preservation of particular features of that society which may not be defensible on general principle.1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 430:
- Synonyms
- defendable
- Antonyms
- indefensible
- Derived terms
- defensibility, defensibleness, defensibly, undefensible