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.

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.

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