untenable
untenable adjective: not able to be held or sustained, such as of an opinion or position.
Adjective
untenable (comparative more untenable, superlative most untenable)
- Not able to be held or sustained, such as of an opinion or position.
- The theory of cold fusion was untenable.
- They are seeking to escape from the unpleasant implications of an untenable status dilemma. They desire but cannot afford a prestigious social status.1970, Gary Schwartz, Sect Ideologies and Social Status, page 219
- Synonyms:
- unholdable, indefensible, unsustainable
- Antonyms:
- tenable, defensible, sustainable
- Unfit for habitation.
- […] ceilings, staircases, all that make a house habitable had vanished in the flare of his conflagration, and since his soul could no longer dwell there, it dwelt instead, so to speak, in the pleasant garden which surrounded the untenable house.1915, Edward Frederic Benson, The Oakleyites, page 84
- The floor was a veritable mud puddle, and even the meager bedding of old reindeer skins was wet from the dripping walls and ceiling. This untenable dwelling housed a family of six Eskimos: a grandmother, father and mother and three children.1939, Hygeia, volume 17, numbers 1-6, page 331
- Antonyms:
- habitable
untenable meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
untenable in Hindi
- असमर्थनीय
untenable in Tamil
- எடுபடாத, ஏற்கத்தக்கதல்ல, ஒப்புக்கொள்ளத்தகாத, செல்லாத
untenable in Marathi
- असमर्थनीय
untenable in Urdu
- ناقابل استیمال
More languagesFewer languages
- untenable in Bengali
- অসিদ্ধ ośiddho
- untenable in Malayalam
- നിലനിൽക്കാത്ത, വാദിച്ചുസമർത്ഥിക്കാൻ വയ്യാത്ത, അപ്രതിരോധ്യം, സാധൂകരണമില്ലാത്ത
- untenable in Kannada
- ಅಸಮರ್ಥನೀಯ, ಸಮರ್ಥಿಸಲಾಗದ
- untenable in Gujarati
- અસમર્થનીય
- untenable in Odia
- ଅସମର୍ଥନୀଯ଼
Examples of untenable in a sentence
- The rumors about Anderson nevertheless placed Glasgow in an untenable social position, for close friends either suspected or knew of their engagement.1998, Susan Goodman, Ellen Glasgow: a biography, page 149:
- The modern family would be an artificial and untenable social structure in this early period, just as the clan appears to be an artificial institution in our own society.2012, Heather A. Brown, Marx on Gender and the Family: A Critical Study, page 183:
- Lee] in the time of George Floyd became, at last, untenable.2021 October 26, Peter Baker, “The Case Against Winston Churchill”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- He describes the untenable position of the railways' finances reasonably dispassionately.2023 March 8, Gareth Dennis, “The Reshaping of things to come...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 44:
Synonyms of untenable
Antonyms
Forms of untenable
| comparative | more untenable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most untenable |
Origin of untenable
From un- + tenable.
Words formed from untenable
Words that rhyme with untenable
Questions about untenable
- What does untenable mean?
- Untenable means not able to be held or sustained, such as of an opinion or position.
- What is untenable in Hindi?
- Untenable in Hindi is असमर्थनीय. See Untenable meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use untenable in a sentence?
- The rumors about Anderson nevertheless placed Glasgow in an untenable social position, for close friends either suspected or knew of their engagement.
- What part of speech is untenable?
- Untenable is an adjective.
Words near untenable in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: untenable (page history and authors); untenable (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); untenable (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); untenable (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); untenable (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); অসিদ্ধ (Bengali) (page history and authors); untenable (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); untenable (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); untenable (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); untenable (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “untenable.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/untenable. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.