Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. That cannot be transferred to another or others: inalienable rights.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Incapable of being alienated or transferred to another; that cannot or should not be transferred or given up.
Wiktionary
- adj. Incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred to another; not alienable.
- adj. grammar Of or pertaining to a noun belonging to a special class in which the possessive construction differs from the norm, especially for particular familial relationships and body parts.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred to another; not alienable.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another
- adj. not subject to forfeiture
Etymologies
- Borrowed around 1645 from French inaliénable, from in- + aliénable ("alienable"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The original idea behind the phrase "inalienable rights" was that rights are inalienable because they are correlative to duties and responsibilities that exist objectively and transcend the will, and that we are therefore not allowed to shirk.”
“This was a point of central importance – for some purposes it was the point of central importance – in the political philosophies behind the Glorious Revolution and the American Revolution, from which the phrase "inalienable rights" historically sprang.”
“He thinks the relative silence on God/religion in the Constitution is over-ridden by the Declaration of Independence (because it contains the phrase "inalienable rights endowed by the creator") and he thinks the First Amendment religion clauses apply only to Christians and Jews (and maybe, but probably not, Muslims).”
“The word "inalienable" was inserted to deny this, and the only possible justification for it is the existence of transcendent duties.”
“He said Moscow supported and will support what he described as the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in east Jerusalem.”
“Some earlier drafts used the word "inalienable," which is the term our modern dictionaries prefer.”
“Mrs Tollefsen holds aloft her adorable 22-month-old first IVF baby, Freya, as proof of what she calls her inalienable 'right to be a mum', whatever her age.”
“And before our right-wing vandals weigh in, let me ask if "inalienable" is an absolute with respect to a citizen's rights?”
“The founding fathers said "all men are created equal, and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights”
“There is still much great store for equality under the law, and preservation of certain inalienable rights -- as Our Forefathers proclaimed -- strictly tribal values.”
Socialism as Primitivism, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘inalienable’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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EU Buzz - Lisbon Treaty
All words of the Lisbon Treaty
(Persons' names, foreign and grammatical words have been eliminated, MWEs have been split up into individual words. Capitalization has been retained if r...conferral, stateless, person, voting, right, subsidiarity, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and 2614 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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Big Book #2 List
absolution, restitution, contrition, moratorium, nautical, nirvana, pandemonium, perennial, symposium, dialectic, dipsomaniacal, ecumenical and 117 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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amber words
amber words is the term I use for words that are all but fossilized, in the sense that their use is always in the context of a single expression. Examples include caboodle, dudgeon, umbrage
sanctum, akimbo, amok, riddance, druthers, trove, caboodle, immemorial, blithering, dudgeon, swaddling, askance and 110 more...
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They Roll Off The Tongue
Words that are just fun to say. Entirely subjective, but I like 'em regardless. A complement to the list They Stumble Off The Tongue.
verisimilitude, parsimonious, soliloquy, insipid, ontological, plentifully, je ne sais quoi, misanthropic, bourgeoisie, parallelable, inclemency, frigidity and 159 more...
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adjectives
sartorial, saucy, wieldy, wuthering, dilapidated, rough-and-ready, flabbergasted, ravishing, seminal, snooty, galore, scrumptious and 386 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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random words
defervescence, astronomical, tiffin, substantialize, inalienable, reverently, hype, wheeziness, tassel, uphang, ancient, high-mettled and 11 more...
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Words I like.
See List Name.
stupendous, twitterpated, chimeric, flabbergasted, perfunctory, ironic, obligatory, inalienable, whether, chasm, propriety, spelunking and 5 more...
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Words to use more often
atavistic, nescient, risible, inveigh, decrepit, Parsimonious, elucidating, slake, inalienable, seamless, effulgence, nocturne and 11 more...
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