Vincible

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Capable of being overcome or defeated through effort or force
2. Susceptible to being defeated or overcome by external challenges or forces
3. Able to be defeated or subdued by effort or power

Etymology: "Vincible" is the opposite-facing partner of "invincible," and the pair makes a neat lesson in how English builds words from one Latin verb. The root is "vincere," meaning "to conquer," which also gave English "victor" and "victory." Latin speakers attached the suffix "-ibilis," meaning "able to be," to the verb's stem, producing "vincibilis," or "conquerable." English borrowed that adjective directly, so "vincible" describes something that can be beaten through effort or force. The more famous sibling came first in Latin logic: "invincibilis" added the negating prefix "in-" to the same stem, meaning "not conquerable." English "invincible" is the common form today, and "vincible" appears mostly as its counterpart, the thing it is not. Many readers meet "vincible" only in the phrase "vincible ignorance," a term from moral theology for ignorance that could have been overcome by proper inquiry.

Synonyms: beatable, conquerable, defeatable, subduable, overcome

Antonyms: invincible, unconquerable, indomitable, unbeatable, unassailable