pregnable

American  

[preg-nuh-buhl] / ˈprɛg nə bəl /

adjective

1. capable of being taken or won by force.

   a pregnable fortress.

2. open to attack; assailable.

   a pregnable argument.

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pregnable British  

/ ˈprɛɡnəbəl /

adjective

1. capable of being assailed or captured

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Other Word Forms

• pregnability noun

Etymology

Origin of pregnable

1400–50; late Middle English prenable < Middle French prenable, pregnable, equivalent to pren- (weak stem of prendre to seize, take < Latin pre ( he ) ndere; prehension ) + -able -able; -g- perhaps from obsolete expugnable (in same sense)

Example Sentences

This rule rigidly defined the Nazis' plan of action in the Balkans: cut Yugoslavia from Greece, pro-Nazi Croatia from anti-Nazi Serbia, pregnable Thrace from defensible central Greece, the tough Greeks from the tough British.

From Time Magazine Archive

Or would the 50-odd Allied divisions still in Britain mount an entirely new thrust at the demonstrably pregnable Atlantic Wall?

From Time Magazine Archive

Above this is heavy stone work over twelve inches thick, so that the sloping roof was the only part pregnable in an assault with the munitions of war then in use.

From Famous Firesides of French Canada by Alloway, Mary Wilson

The city was encircled by walls and fortifications of great strength and height, and scarcely pregnable even if accessible.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 379, July 4, 1829 by Various

He had routed the Trojans and driven them within their gates, when Paris, aided by Apollo, the divine archer, shot an arrow at the hero which struck him in his one pregnable spot, the heel.

From Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15) The Romance of Reality by Morris, Charles