Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Being such that defense or maintenance is impossible: an untenable position.
- adj. Being such that occupation or habitation is impossible: untenable quarters.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not tenable; that cannot be held in possession: as, an untenable post or fort. That cannot be maintained by argument; not defensible: as, an untenable doctrine.
Wiktionary
- adj. Not able to be held, as of an opinion or position; unholdable, indefensible.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (of theories etc) incapable of being defended or justified
Etymologies
- un- + tenable (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Moosa, on Wednesday to intervene in what it called the untenable situation of South Africa's conservation sector.”
“His plan to offer up the goddess Freia to the giants who built Valhalla is untenable from the start, as it would mean forcing the Gods to give up their eternal youth (her golden apples do a lot more than just keep the doctor away -- and remember, there was no Botox in 19th century Germany).”
The Huffington Post: Albert Imperato: My Takeaway From the Metropolitan Opera's New Rheingold
“There are many innocent victims but also many many people that put themselves in untenable positions with purchases that they could barely afford and too little savings to weather a storm.”
Wonk Room » Mortgage Modifications Hitting Roadblocks, As Cram-Down Bill Languishes In Senate
“Mostly all the European countries tried and find themselves in untenable positions.”
White House hanging on until Blair shows up? - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“He must be at liberty to assume disguises, to balance precariously in untenable positions, to sacrifice the letter of the truth to the spirit of it.”
“The 29-year-old has claimed his position in the England squad is "untenable" - a decision related to the alleged affair between his former Chelsea team-mate John Terry and Vanessa Perroncel, the mother of his young son.”
“At a farmers 'regional congress at George, WCAU chairman Chris du Toit described as untenable and draconian proposals allowing farmworkers to strike while receiving all the benefits of life on farms, and trade unions access to farmers' financial statements.”
“Croghan remarked, as we listened to the uproar, "Fort Stephenson can hardly be called untenable against heavy artillery.”
“His departure - after he said his position was "untenable" - followed those of Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Giles Fraser and part-time chaplain Fraser Dyer.”
“For it is evident that the principle which silly and ignorant fanatics have called untenable is essential to the institution of property, and that, if you take away that principle, you will produce evils resembling those which would be produced by a general confiscation.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘untenable’.
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 569 more...
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tatterdemalion's list
chrysalis, colloquy, peroration, syncretism, dickering, gamelan, dictatress, adventurism, untenable, presumption of fa..., lovelorn, bawdily and 47 more...
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Remember Not To Forget
Sephardic, Umwelt, amphiboly, untrammeled, sequela, pandiculation, tensegrity, syncretism, pugilism, shemagh, disquisition, perspicacity and 65 more...
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Hit Parade GRE
Princeton Review words
abscond, aberrant, alacrity, anomaly, approbation, arduous, assuage, audacious, austere, axiomatic, canonical, capricious and 287 more...
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Un-word List
untrammelled, untoward, unenthusiastically, unenthusiastic, undaunted, uncanny, unceasing, unbridled, unacknowledged, unacquainted, unadorned, unaffected and 239 more...
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AbraxasZugzwang's Words
atavism, abraxas, sisyphean, frust, fetus-in-fetu, arhythmically, queef, epidemiology, abecedarian, troglodyte, chiaroscuro, philology and 631 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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soph2's Words
serendipity, audacity, groak, petrichor, lethologica, loganamnosis, agnuopia, dysania, dysphagia, neologism, incredulity, harbinger and 246 more...
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Vocab from High School
Words that I found in an old notebook.
affinity, aggrandizement, altruistic, ameliorate, apochryphal, aversion, blithe, bombastic, cajole, callous, capitulate, capricious and 178 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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My GRE word list
polemic, ad hominem, fallacious, comity, paucity, contrite, prosaic, veracious, laconic, pugnacious, alacrity, gregarious and 176 more...
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annscann's list
My words, generally
bavarois, bawbee, bawd, bawdry, libertine, russophobe, rubicund, gossamer, persnickety, claptrap, gesticulate, schadenfreudian and 199 more...
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A spoonful of sugar
Words I should learn/I want to learn/I just learned, with a quotation to help the medicine go down.
approbation, assuage, chicanery, abscond, effrontery, enervation, equivocate, ennui, aftertaste, filibuster, perfunctory, abide and 391 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for untenable.
dailyword Holmes used this word when he was planning out his attack against Moriarty. Jun 24, 2012
strev I eight my leaven Feb 7, 2011
fbharjo all leaven and not quite a baker's dozen Feb 7, 2011
strev nine Feb 7, 2011