incorrigible

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Defective and impossible to materially correct or set aright.

   The construction flaw is incorrigible; any attempt to amend it would cause a complete collapse.

2. 2
   adj

   Unmanageable; impervious to correction by punishment or pain.

   An incorrigible youth.

3. 3
   adj

   Incurably depraved; not reformable.

   His dark soul was too incorrigible to repent, even at his execution.

4. 4
   adj

   Unchangeably established in a belief or habit.

   Gordon Brown may have his grumpy, Granita moments, but as a strategist he is an incorrigible optimist.

Simplified etymology

Incorrigible, recorded in Middle English, is related to correct through Latin corrigere “make straight, amend” and describes someone who cannot be straightened out or corrected.

From Middle English incorrigible, from Middle French incorrigible (1334), or directly from Latin incorrigibilis (“not to be corrected”), from in- (“not”) + corrigere (“to correct”) + -ibilis (“-able”), equivalent to in- + corrigible. Recorded since 1340.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary