pregnable

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preg·na·ble

(prĕg′nə-bəl)

adj.

Being such that attack, seizure, or capture is possible; vulnerable or assailable: a pregnable fortress.

[Middle English preignable, pregnabul, from Old French prenable, pregnauble, from prendre, to grasp, from Latin prehendere, prēndere; see ghend- in Indo-European roots.]

preg′na·bil′i·ty n.

pregnable

(ˈprɛɡnəbəl)

adj

capable of being assailed or captured

[C15 prenable, from Old French prendre to take, from Latin prehendere to lay hold of, catch]

ˌpregnaˈbility n

preg•na•ble

(ˈprɛg nə bəl)

adj.

1. capable of being taken by force: a pregnable fortress.

2. open to rebuttal: a pregnable argument.

[1400–50; late Middle English prenable < Middle French pre(g)nable]

preg`na•bil′i•ty, n.

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pregnable

adjective

Open to attack and capture because of a lack of protection:

assailable, attackable, vincible, vulnerable.

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References in periodicals archive ?

It draws upon vast unpublished and published documentation, including materials gathered in ten archives in Russia, among them the less pregnable collections of the Federal Security Service (FSB, St.

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Like Cervantes's Sancho Panza --who, the Barber Maese Nicolas alleges, has allowed himself to become "pregnant" with Don Quijote's ideas ("En mal punto os emprenastes de sus promesas" 1.47)--Calandrino is endowed with an eminently pregnable mind, an unfettered imagination, and a receptivity to ideas that in a less doltish person might easily pass for idealism, but has garnered Calandrino the reputation of a credulous fool (upon hearing of Calandrino's simplicity, the sharp-witted Maso del Saggio immediately resolves to dupe him "o fargli credere alcuna nuova cosa" 8.3, 5).