1
as in defendable
capable of being defended against physical attack
the pioneers retreated to a defensible hillside to take a stand against the raiders
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2
as in justifiable
capable of being defended with good reasoning against verbal attack
there's simply no defensible reason for dropping out of school
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Recent Examples of defensible
In 2020, California lawmakers passed a law making defensible space mandatory in high-risk areas, but the law was never implemented and regulations still haven’t been written.
—
Natalie Donback, TIME, 17 Feb. 2025
The End of a Rent-Seeking Era Initially, Apple's rigorous controls were defensible.
—Vivian Toh, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025
Kyiv will have to make difficult choices about which territories are defensible.
—Liana Fix, Foreign Affairs, 1 May 2025
During the 2022 Oak fire in Mariposa County, California, homes that were compliant with defensible space standards were six times more likely to survive, according to the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force.
—Elizabeth Weise, USA Today, 1 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for defensible
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defensible
justifiable
Adjective
-
After winning 64 times out of 82, then four in a row to open the postseason, their attitude was justifiable.—
-
Police classed the shooting as a justifiable homicide, the Los Angeles Times reported.—
Cite this Entry
“Defensible.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defensible. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
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