Definitions

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

  • adjective Capable of being defended, protected, or justified.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Capable of being defended: as, a defensible city.
  • That may be vindicated, maintained, or justified: as, a defensible cause.
  • Contributing to defense; capable of defending; prepared to defend.

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

  • adjective Capable of being defended.
  • adjective obsolete Capable of offering defense.

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

  • adjective of an installation, etc. capable of being defended against armed attack
  • adjective of an argument, etc. capable of being justified

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

  • adjective capable of being defended

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

defense +‎ -ible

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Examples

  • But what's worrisome is that firefighters were desperate to keep this fire south of Highway 18, because if it jumps to the north, what's behind it is nothing, and what they call defensible space.

    CNN Transcript Oct 28, 2003 2003

  • PAXSON: Well, there's a lot that can be saved because there's openings and some of the houses are not built in the deep forest and some of the houses have what we call defensible space, where brush and dead fuels and that sort of things have been removed; metal roofs help a lot.

    CNN Transcript - Breaking News: Paxson: New Mexico Fire Will 'Burn Where It Really Will Go' - May 11, 2000 2000

  • Along with the zero overhang on roofs a simple metal shutter system to cover the windows when the owners evacuate will help keep the glazing intact when the super heated blast travels through the subdivision. the next part of the equation is to provide what we call defensible space.

    FAZED 2008

  • Again as with the Chamber of Commerce, a difficult choice, wrong maybe but defensible, is made to look opportunistic or impenetrable by the omission of all explanation at the middle level.

    David Bromwich: The Dying Art of Political Explanation David Bromwich 2010

  • Again as with the Chamber of Commerce, a difficult choice, wrong maybe but defensible, is made to look opportunistic or impenetrable by the omission of all explanation at the middle level.

    David Bromwich: The Dying Art of Political Explanation David Bromwich 2010

  • Again as with the Chamber of Commerce, a difficult choice, wrong maybe but defensible, is made to look opportunistic or impenetrable by the omission of all explanation at the middle level.

    David Bromwich: The Dying Art of Political Explanation David Bromwich 2010

  • Again as with the Chamber of Commerce, a difficult choice, wrong maybe but defensible, is made to look opportunistic or impenetrable by the omission of all explanation at the middle level.

    David Bromwich: The Dying Art of Political Explanation David Bromwich 2010

  • Again as with the Chamber of Commerce, a difficult choice, wrong maybe but defensible, is made to look opportunistic or impenetrable by the omission of all explanation at the middle level.

    David Bromwich: The Dying Art of Political Explanation David Bromwich 2010

  • They have no principle that is defensible from a "liberal" perspective, by which I mean the Enlightenment.

    Balkinization 2007

  • They have no principle that is defensible from a "liberal" perspective, by which I mean the Enlightenment.

    Balkinization 2007

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