incorrigible meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

incorrigible

adj

UK /ɪnˈkɒɹɪdʒəb(ə)l/ · US /ɪnˈkɔɹɪd͡ʒəb(ə)l/

Etymology 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.

Defective and impossible to materially correct or set aright.

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

Unmanageable; impervious to correction by punishment or pain.

an incorrigible youth

Incurably depraved; not reformable.

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

Unchangeably established in a belief or habit.

Gordon Brown may have his grumpy, Granita moments, but as a strategist he is an incorrigible optimist.2006 December 7, Michael White, “Breaking up is hard to do, even at the Treasury”, in The Guardian, London:

Human sciences, Philosophy, Sciences Of a proposition or belief Intrinsically incapable of being corrected; impossible to disprove, by its very nature.

The statement "My knee hurts" is incorrigible.

Archaic, Of a disease Impossible to cure.

It may appear as an epidemic, as a hereditary complaint, or as an obstinate and incorrigible disease again and again recurring.1859, The British Journal of Psychiatry, volume 6, page 312:

Synonyms: irreparable, uncorrectable, irredeemable, unreformable, reprobate, determined, dyed-in-the-wool, hopeless, incurable, unalterable, axiomatic, unfalsifiable
Antonyms: corrigible, correctable
Derived terms: incorrigibility, incorrigibleness, incorrigibly
Related terms: incorrect

incorrigible

noun

An incorrigibly bad person.

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