untenable vs tenable

Both 'untenable' and 'tenable' are correct words, but they have opposite meanings. 'Untenable' means not able to be maintained or defended, while 'tenable' means able to be maintained or defended. They are not directly comparable as they represent opposite concepts.

Last updated: March 24, 2024 • 1172 views

The word 'untenable' is correct and commonly used in English. It means not able to be maintained or defended.

"untenable"

It is used to describe a situation, argument, or position that is not sustainable or defensible.

Examples:

The company's financial position was untenable.
His argument became untenable in the face of new evidence.

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Setting up such a criterion is totally untenable.
In psychic research, such an approach is completely untenable.
Gavabutu will become untenable, eventually we'll have to move out of Toulebonne.
But on a professional level, it's untenable.
When faced with untenable alternatives, you should consider your imperative.
The situation at the frontier was now becoming almost untenable.
But if the logistics become untenable...
You are here because circumstances with the cartel are untenable.
The airline pushed her into an untenable predicament.
Therefore, my position has become untenable.
Here's a man who knows when a situation is untenable.
Without co-operation and mutual respect, co-productions of this kind are untenable.
The Shakaar government will be overthrown and the Federation position on Terok Nor will become untenable.
It would make an already difficult situation untenable.
The Metropolitan Museum says the situation here is untenable.
Democracy, my fellow Americans, is untenable.
Sir, with greatest respect, the situation outside the Conglomerate's borders is becoming untenable.
Neutralize the risk before it becomes untenable.
I'd rather not make your position as President untenable.
A few years ago Vegas became untenable.

Alternatives:

unsustainable
indefensible
unsound
precarious
unreliable

The word 'tenable' is correct and commonly used in English. It means able to be maintained or defended.

"tenable"

It is used to describe a situation, argument, or position that is sustainable or defensible.

Examples:

The theory is tenable based on current evidence.
Her position on the issue is tenable in the debate.

Show examples from the web [+]

Your position is no longer tenable, regardless of restructuring.
That is our group's position, and no other interpretation is tenable.
The situation in Gaza is not tenable.
This clearly needs to change because it is no longer tenable.
However, I also know from the discussions that it is far more difficult to formulate a negotiable Council position, obtain a mandate and accommodate pure national chauvinism in a fairly reasonable and tenable overall European decision.
For its part, the European Parliament, which had fought hard to ensure that the 1997 directive was balanced and respected the requirements of a universal public service, is rather satisfied to see that the compromise it obtained then is proving to be tenable.
The use of NPE in pesticides is therefore no longer tenable.
It is certainly not legally tenable in the absolute form in which it is presented.
Today the situation is no longer tenable.
This principle is also tenable looking to the future.
This agreement, however, will not remain tenable if all other similar bilateral agreements are no longer considered permissible.
Your rapporteur takes the view that the proliferation of data protection instruments in the third and first pillars is not tenable.
And, fifthly, on some important points it is hardly tenable, in strictly legal terms.
A regulation in which the Member States take a sovereign decision as to whether or not they permit vegetable fats in their production is no longer tenable.
In the European Works Council Directive, for example, we need a tenable compromise between employers and employees.
Only last week, they said that what was on offer was simply not tenable for them.
My colleague, Mr Wijkman, has produced a good report in this respect, one that emphasises this paradigm that is the only successful and morally tenable one.
An arrangement whereby Members of the same parliament have 25 different legal and financial regimes in my view is neither desirable nor tenable in the long term.
This position seems less tenable now, and the technical reasons invoked should probably be taken as simply limitations to arriving to total harmonisation.
At first glance, the argument that the directive does not deal with questions of male/female equality seems tenable, but this is not the case.

Alternatives:

defensible
sustainable
reasonable
valid
sound

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untenable vs tenable

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