untenable

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,959 of 15,258leans written

Untenable means impossible to defend or to keep up. An untenable position, become untenable, untenable in the long run.

It is the standard word for the moment before somebody resigns, since a position described as untenable is one they will shortly leave. The tenable in it means able to be held, from the Latin for holding.

Definitions of untenable

1adjectiveuntenableImpossible to defend or to keep up.C1
“Rents rose so high that living in the city became untenable for young families.”

untenable is a quality.

Where it comes from

French
tenable
English
tenable
English, today
untenable

Built from

tenir · French — to hold

From un- + tenable. tenable comes from the French tenable, from tenir (“to hold”); compare tenible.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

untenable in the wild

As vitalism became increasingly untenable, organic chemistry broadened its scope to study all large molecules; at the time, all known large molecules contained carbon.
Organic compound
However, when the situation became untenable, it was Abdagaeses who advised Tiridates to retreat west to Mesopotamia where strategic defensive locations were suitable.
Tiridates III of Parthia
The RFU stated that their place in the league was "untenable" and the club were dissolved.
London Welsh RFC
Facing an untenable situation, he resigned, and Shipley was unanimously elected to replace him.
1997 New Zealand National Party leadership election

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the tenir family

tennis entertain entertaining

untenable — used about once every 16,706 pages · #12,959 · point at the bar for the others

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