Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Capable of being annulled or invalidated.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • That may be abrogated or annulled.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Capable of being annulled or made void.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective law, logic Capable of being defeated, terminated, annulled, voided or invalidated.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective capable of being annulled or voided or terminated

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Besides being fallible, it seems that a priori justification is defeasible, that is, all-things-considered a priori justification can be defeated by further evidence.

    A Priori Justification and Knowledge Russell, Bruce 2007

  • The relations between states and events are computed as strong probabilities, in the process called defeasible reasoning.

    Defaults in Semantics and Pragmatics Jaszczolt, K. M. 2006

  • These constraints are ranked as to their strength and they are defeasible, that is, they can be violated (see Zeevat 2000, 2004).

    Defaults in Semantics and Pragmatics Jaszczolt, K. M. 2006

  • But it isn't clear what version of non-cognitivism can take advantage of this sort of defeasible connection.

    Boys in White Suits 2009

  • Inasmuch as charity is taken to generate particular attributions of belief, so those attributions are, of course, always defeasible.

    Donald Davidson Malpas, Jeff 2009

  • As we refrain from intervention domestically in the interest of encouraging productive trade, we should be guided by a defeasible presumption of non-intervention on the international stage in the interest of preventing this undesirable variety.

    In Defense of My Retroactive Smugness 2007

  • I understand your reluctance to rely on it exclusively you're looking for an airtight argument and the morality argument has limits and problems of its own - being defeasible by a contrary moral imperative, for example, but that's the argument that gets the most traction.

    Why did Obama pick Leon Panetta — a man with no significant experience in intelligence — to head the C.I.A.? Ann Althouse 2009

  • It is, in fact, a distinct relation for which causal dependence is, at best, a defeasible marker.

    My Shasta Daisy 2009

  • So while judgments are proposition-generating acts (Handlungen) (A69/94), beliefs by contrast are merely defeasible rational pro-attitudes to propositions that presuppose acts of judgment.

    Kant's Theory of Judgment Hanna, Robert 2009

  • Section 1.2, belief for Kant is a defeasible rational pro-attitude arising from and presupposing an act of judgment and its propositional content; and as noted in

    Kant's Theory of Judgment Hanna, Robert 2009

Comments

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  • A philosophy professor (non-native English speaker!) used this word at me the other day. He catches me out on vocabulary embarrassingly often.

    June 8, 2013