Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Impossible to remove, erase, or wash away; permanent: indelible ink.
- adj. Making a mark not easily erased or washed away: an indelible pen for labeling clothing.
- adj. Unable to be forgotten; memorable: an indelible memory.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not deleble; not to be blotted out; incapable of being effaced or obliterated.
- Not to be annulled.
Wiktionary
- adj. having the quality of being difficult to remove, wash away, blot out, or efface;
- adj. incapable of being canceled, lost, or forgotten.
- adj. incapable of being annulled
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. That can not be removed, washed away, blotted out, or effaced; incapable of being canceled, lost, or forgotten
- adj. rare That can not be annulled; indestructible.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. cannot be removed or erased
Etymologies
- Latin indelebilis "indestructible" (Wiktionary)
- Alteration of earlier indeleble, from Latin indēlēbilis : in-, not; see in-1 + dēlēbilis, capable of being effaced (from dēlēre, to wipe out). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“His favourite shirt had the name 'Jason' written in indelible marker on the inside collar.”
“And if you are worried about people voting more than once, there's this handy thing called indelible ink that even third-world countries know how to use. posted by MN Politics Guru @ 13:38”
“How she advised herself to that effect is more than I can imagine, but the print of her words is indelible, that is what she said.”
“The so-called indelible ink put on the finger of voters could be washed off at several voting stations (and) one mobile polling station in the northern Ohangwena Region, did not put the official stamp of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) on ballot papers, which makes them spoilt votes", Jesaya Nyamu, secretary general of RDP, told reporters.”
“Presidential poll day sees low turnout amid bombings, fraud claims and 'indelible' finger markings that wash off ... wherein a voter turns up half an hour after casting his ballot with his finger washed clean.”
“Art books tend to favor "indelible," Dr. Schawe prefers "characteristic," and the Alte Pinokothek's own catalog uses "lasting.”
“I suspect that the pared-down McCarthy prose was aiming to result in that kind of indelible, perfectly crafted sentence.”
“Turns out the "indelible" ink pen designed for cattle eartags wouldn't hold to the plastic tape at all.”
“Afghanistan election: 'indelible' ink washes off voters' fingers”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“He left the kind of indelible impression that vaulted the Tigers to the No. 1 spot in the weekly BCS rankings, ahead of”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘indelible’.
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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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Adjectives
anodyne, incessant, unbroken, malcontent, furtive, evocative, lithe, fugacious, aleatory, indelible, ephemeral, paltry
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Filter 1
Hard words level 1
besotted, altricial, consecrate, consternate, desuetude, detractor, dissolute, divisive, emaciated, enamored, ensconce, garishly and 76 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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to memorize
words i need to memorize
aberrant, abscond, advocate, aggrandize, amalgamate, ambiguous, ambrosial, anomalous, antediluvian, antipathy, arbitrate, assuage and 163 more...
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Reading Vocab
ulterior, warrant, syllogism, precious, impiety, maroon, aigrette, batiste, topsy-turvy ago, midnight crush, cantankerous, slovenly and 180 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
My preparation
for GRE ofcourse
exonerate, incipient, disparate, morbid, engross, ebullient, predilection, propensity, allure, qualms, chastise, perpetuate and 111 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Vocab ##5
appint, monarch, counterpart, muse, bestow, unwitting, aghast, admonish, wage, decree, cavalry, phalanx and 126 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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SAT PSAT ALPHABETICAL I
iconoclast, idiosyncrasy, ignoble, ignominious, illicit, illusory, illustrious, imbibe, imbue, immaculate, immaterial, immolate and 155 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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Interesting words
ineffable, effable, immutable, amorphous, parochial, salient, ascertain, circumspect, congenial, coeval, aversion, edification and 117 more...
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kewpid's Words
moleskine, araldite, dessicate, cellar door, grotesque, fallacy, vendetta, raindrop, panacea, ethereal, hircus, treppenwitz and 446 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for indelible.
isral i'm tempted to ask my family and friends about what things they feel are indelibly linked to me? Sep 13, 2012
bilby Ha, I like the phrase le matite contestate. Jun 8, 2009
Prolagus By the way, the article talks about me (I called them and they interviewed me). Jun 8, 2009
skipvia Astonishing. Of course, that does explain a few things... Jun 8, 2009
Prolagus In Italy, we vote with indelible pencils.
But...
Today, during EU elections, I brought an eraser with me, and guess what? The pencil mark could be easily erased! Jun 8, 2009