supportable.

1. Capable of being sustained or defended by sufficient evidence or reasons.

2. Capable of being carried, endured or maintained by the relevant support or resources.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• supportable claim
• supportable interpretation

On the page

The narrow claim was supportable even though the proposed generalization was not.

Several supportable interpretations remained after the ambiguous passage was examined.

Usage notes

Primary category: analysis / argumentation / evidence. Forms: Comparative more supportable; superlative most supportable where gradation is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: evidence assessment, qualification, argument critique, assumption analysis. Disciplines: argumentation, logic, research interpretation, formal writing. Commonness: moderately common.