inexorable
adjective
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The Latin antecedent of inexorable is inexorabilis, which is itself a combination of the prefix in-, meaning "not," plus exorabilis, meaning "pliant" or "capable of being moved by entreaty." It's a fitting etymology for inexorable. You can beseech and implore until you're blue in the face, but that won't have any effect on something that's inexorable. Inexorable has been a part of the English language since the 1500s. Originally, it was often applied to people or sometimes to personified things, as in "deaf and inexorable laws." These days, it is usually applied to things, as in "inexorable monotony" or "an inexorable trend." In such cases, it essentially means "unyielding" or "inflexible."
Examples of inexorable in a Sentence
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2024
The inexorable advance of technological noise in the twentieth century—cars, airplanes, helicopters, pile drivers, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, home stereos, stadium sound systems—left the impression that the world was getting louder year by year.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
In interviews with a dozen of the country’s leading experts on aging, all described inexorable patterns that almost always accelerate after age 80.
—Michael D. Shear Michael D. Shear, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2024
The music reminds you that the stakes are ancient but low, that there is no danger in the show’s world that is inexorable.
—Wesley Morris Ron Butler Emma Kehlbeck Ted Blaisdell, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2024
The inexorable momentum of the novel is toward the final such private space, Winston’s last line of defense, and the last line of defense in any totalitarian society: the hidden compartment of his mind.
—Stephen Metcalf, The Atlantic, 5 Apr. 2024
The inexorable decline in enrollment is exacerbated by a startling large number of students who may be enrolled but are chronically absent — what once was known as playing hooky.
—Dan Walters, The Mercury News, 9 Mar. 2024
Enlarge Aurich Lawson The inexorable rise of the North American Charging Standard continues unabated.
—Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 27 June 2023
This mismatch is the root cause of many of the problems with corporate networks, including their inexorable switchover from attract to extract mode and the exclusion of so many contributors from the upside of their networks.
—Chris Dixon, Fortune, 10 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inexorable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Inexorable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inexorable. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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inexorable
adjective
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