'antagonisable' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'antagōnizesthai', where 'anti-' meant 'against' and 'agōn' (or 'agōniz-') meant 'contest' or 'struggle'.

'antagonisable' changed from the verb 'antagonize' (from Late Latin/Greek roots and via Old French forms such as 'antagoniser'), and the adjective was formed in modern English by adding the suffix '-able' to create 'antagonisable'.

Initially related to the idea of 'contending' or 'opposing' in Greek, the formation with '-able' evolved to mean 'capable of being antagonised' or, less commonly, 'likely to cause antagonism'.