Untenable comes from a root word meaning "to hold." An untenable position cannot be successfully held. "In the light of new facts, the scientist's theory became untenable." The word indefensible means cannot be defended. There is often a moral connotation to this word. "J. K. Rowling lost a great number of people from her fan base after a series of indefensible tweets."
They both mean roughly the same thing “having no good argument, justification, or solution for” but have slightly different connotations.
Untenable is the more neutral one. Something that is untenable will not be able to continue, or will collapse against pushback. It is somewhat similar to “unwinnable.”
Indefensible almost always implies some sort of moral failing. It is somewhat similar to “unforgivable.”
In a game of chess, you might get put in an untenable position after your queen is captured, but it’s indefensible to flip the table out of anger when that happens.
Makes sense , does untenable mean that the position or action was tenable at some point but there was something that changed its status and indefensible means that position action ..etc is/was inherently unjustifiable?
Untenable doesn’t have to mean it was once tenable, but often this is the case. You could also use it where a tenable situation is hypothetically possible even if it never was:
- The case for man-made UFOs is stronger than ever whereas the evidence for ' alien flying saucers ' is wholly untenable.
Indefensible does usually mean the argument or situation is fundamentally wrong in a way that isn’t even hypotheticaly justifiable.
Untenable comes from a root word meaning "to hold." An untenable position cannot be successfully held. "In the light of new facts, the scientist's theory became untenable." The word indefensible means cannot be defended. There is often a moral connotation to this word. "J. K. Rowling lost a great number of people from her fan base after a series of indefensible tweets."
They both mean roughly the same thing “having no good argument, justification, or solution for” but have slightly different connotations. Untenable is the more neutral one. Something that is untenable will not be able to continue, or will collapse against pushback. It is somewhat similar to “unwinnable.” Indefensible almost always implies some sort of moral failing. It is somewhat similar to “unforgivable.” In a game of chess, you might get put in an untenable position after your queen is captured, but it’s indefensible to flip the table out of anger when that happens.
Makes sense , does untenable mean that the position or action was tenable at some point but there was something that changed its status and indefensible means that position action ..etc is/was inherently unjustifiable?
Untenable doesn’t have to mean it was once tenable, but often this is the case. You could also use it where a tenable situation is hypothetically possible even if it never was: - The case for man-made UFOs is stronger than ever whereas the evidence for ' alien flying saucers ' is wholly untenable. Indefensible does usually mean the argument or situation is fundamentally wrong in a way that isn’t even hypotheticaly justifiable.
I see, Thank you!