defeasible
[dɪˈfiːzɪbəɫ]adjective
defeasible is an adjective meaning “Capable of being defeated, terminated, annulled, voided or invalidated” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-E-F-E-A-S-I-B-L-E, and it appears about once in every 34 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does defeasible mean?
adjective
- 1
Capable of being defeated, terminated, annulled, voided or invalidated.
The accounting charge for the non-callable debt is defeasible by an escrow.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce defeasible?
- UK [dɪˈfiːzɪbəɫ]
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of defeasible
- more defeasible comparative
- most defeasible superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is defeasible?
Defeasible appears about once in every 34 million words in written English, the 178,202nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Defeasible in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense capable of being defeated, invalidated, …:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | annullierbar |
| Spanish | anulable |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does defeasible come from?
Back-formation from defeasance + -ible, from Anglo-Norman defesaunce, Old French desfaisance, a deverbal noun from desfaire (“to undo”) (Modern French défaire), from des- (“un-, apart”) + fere, faire (“to do”) + -able, reflecting Latin dis- + facere + -ābilis. Near-doublet of defeatable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).