Dictionary

defeasible en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• [dɪˈfiːzɪbəɫ] (UK)

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. Capable of being defeated, terminated, annulled, voided or invalidated.
   • The accounting charge for the non-callable debt is defeasible by an escrow.
   • If you are unhappy with an article generated by Abstract Wikipedia, you will be able to: change the “abstract” content in Wikidata; change the algorithms that construct or render the article in Wikifunctions; or sever the connection between the article and Abstract Wikipedia, and edit the article the old-fashioned way in Wikipedia. The role of Wikilambda in all this is to make algorithms “defeasible”. Every part of every algorithm is there, and can be contested on the platform itself, even if that contestation may be culturally and politically constrained. 2026, Michael Falk, “Wikilambda the ultimate: the Wikimedia foundation’s search for the perfect language”, in AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication, →DOI:
   • Languages are acquired mainly through the exercise of defeasible inductive methods, based on experience of linguistic communication. 2011 September 21, Barbara C. Scholz, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Geoffrey K. Pullum, Ryan Nefdt, “Philosophy of Linguistics”, in Edward N. Zalta, Uri Nodelman, editors, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, →ISSN, retrieved 18 Jun 2025:

Forms

Deriveds

defeasibly · defeasibleness · undefeasible · defeasible fee · defeasibility · indefeasible

Translations (9)

ro revocabil (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · nl annulleerbaar (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · es anulable (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · ro anulabil (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · nl breekbaar (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · de annullierbar (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · ro nedefinitiv (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · hu érvényteleníthető (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …) · nl overwinnelijk (capable of being defeated, invalidated, …)