ineradicable

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   impossible or extremely difficult to eliminate, destroy, or remove

   The scandal left an ineradicable stain on the institution's reputation.

2. 2
   adj

   literal: too deeply rooted to be pulled out completely

   The weed seemed ineradicable once its roots spread beneath the wall.

Formed from in- 'not' + eradicable. Eradicable is based on eradicate, from Latin eradicare, 'to root out' (e- 'out' + radix, radicis, 'root'). The literal impossibility of uprooting a plant supplied the metaphor for ambitions, beliefs, and effects that cannot be eliminated.

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