Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Capable of being defended, protected, or justified: defensible arguments.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Capable of being defended: as, a defensible city.
- That may be vindicated, maintained, or justified: as, a defensible cause.
- Contributing to defense; capable of defending; prepared to defend.
Wiktionary
- adj. of an installation, etc. capable of being defended against armed attack
- adj. of an argument, etc. capable of being justified
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Capable of being defended.
- adj. obsolete Capable of offering defense.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. capable of being defended
Etymologies
- defense + -ible (Wiktionary)
Examples
“But what's worrisome is that firefighters were desperate to keep this fire south of Highway 18, because if it jumps to the north, what's behind it is nothing, and what they call defensible space.”
“PAXSON: Well, there's a lot that can be saved because there's openings and some of the houses are not built in the deep forest and some of the houses have what we call defensible space, where brush and dead fuels and that sort of things have been removed; metal roofs help a lot.”
“Along with the zero overhang on roofs a simple metal shutter system to cover the windows when the owners evacuate will help keep the glazing intact when the super heated blast travels through the subdivision. the next part of the equation is to provide what we call defensible space.”
“Again as with the Chamber of Commerce, a difficult choice, wrong maybe but defensible, is made to look opportunistic or impenetrable by the omission of all explanation at the middle level.”
The Huffington Post: David Bromwich: The Dying Art of Political Explanation
“They have no principle that is defensible from a "liberal" perspective, by which I mean the Enlightenment.”
“GUTIERREZ: Now, firefighters say the difference between actually saving a home and having it burn to the ground is something that they call a defensible state.”
“As he often does, Chomsky also shows how dominant media manipulation shapes public perceptions to justify our actions called defensible against states we target as enemies when they resist - meaning their wish to remain free and independent makes them a threat to western civilization.”
“• The Clinton Parameters dropped the idea of defensible borders and replaced them with”
“Despite being rejected by Mr. Stanford, many of his ex-lawyers, in interviews, said he was innocent or had a "defensible" case.”
The Wall Street Journal: Stanford Defense Turns Into Legal Circus
“If you ask the American people to choose between some tough-talking interrogators and terrorists who they are interrogating, it is not a winner, but it's not a winner on principle either, on any kind of defensible principle.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘defensible’.
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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Of -ibles, not -ables
Tricksy buggers! I've not included those where neither is favorable.
accessible, admissible, alible, apprehensible, audible, coercible, cognoscible, collapsible, collectible, combustible, comestible, compactible and 103 more...
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