incorrigible

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkɒɹɪdʒəb(ə)l/, /ɪnˈkɒɹɪdʒɪb(ə)l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkɔɹɪd͡ʒəb(ə)l/, /ɪnˈkɔɹəd͡ʒəb(ə)l/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧cor‧ri‧gi‧ble

incorrigible (not comparable)

1. 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. Unmanageable; impervious to correction by punishment or pain.

   an incorrigible youth

3. Incurably depraved; not reformable.

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

4. Unchangeably established in a belief or habit.
   • 2006 December 7, Michael White, “Breaking up is hard to do, even at the Treasury”, in The Guardian‎^[1], London:

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

5. (philosophy, of a proposition or belief) Intrinsically incapable of being corrected; impossible to disprove, by its very nature.

   The statement "My knee hurts" is incorrigible.

6. (archaic, of a disease) Impossible to cure.
   • 1859, The British Journal of Psychiatry, volume 6, page 312:

     It may appear as an epidemic, as a hereditary complaint, or as an obstinate and incorrigible disease again and again recurring.

• (impossible to materially correct): irreparable, uncorrectable
• (depraved): irredeemable, unreformable, reprobate
• (established in a belief or habit): determined, dyed-in-the-wool, hopeless, incurable, unalterable
• (intrinsically uncorrectable): axiomatic, unfalsifiable
• (archaic, of a disease): incurable

• corrigible
• correctable

• incorrect

incorrigible (plural incorrigibles)

1. An incorrigibly bad individual.

   The incorrigibles in the prison population are either lifers or habitual reoffenders.

Recorded since 1334 as Middle French incorrigible, from Latin incorrigibilis (“not to be corrected”). Morphologically, from in- +‎ corrigible.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.kɔ.ʁi.ʒibl/

incorrigible (plural incorrigibles)

1. incorrigible

   Synonyms: indécrottable, irrécupérable

   Antonyms: corrigible, corrigeable

• incorrigiblement

• corriger

incorrigible m (plural incorrigibles)

1. an incorrigible

• “incorrigible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• incorigeble, incorrigibil, incorygibile, incorigibyll

Borrowed from Middle French incorrigible, from Latin incorrigibilis.

• IPA^(key): /inˌkɔriˈdʒiːbəl/, /inˈkɔridʒibəl/

incorrigible (Late Middle English)

1. insoluble, unmanageable
2. irredeemable, not reformable

• English: incorrigible

• “incorriǧī̆ble, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Learned borrowing from Latin incorrigibilis.

incorrigible m or f (plural incorrigibles)

1. unpunished

   Pource que nous ne vouloiens mie que telz fais demourast incorrigibles […]

   Because we don't want such deeds to go unpunished

• → Middle English: incorrigible, incorigeble, incorrigibil, incorygibile, incorigibyll
  • English: incorrigible
• French: incorrigible

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (incorrigible)