Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Impossible to stop, alter, or resist; inevitable.
  • adjective Not capable of being persuaded by entreaty; relentless.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; unyielding; unrelenting: as, an inexorable creditor; inexorable law.
  • Synonyms Inexorable, Unrelenting, Relentless, Implacable; immovable. Inexorable, literally not to be moved or changed by prayer or petition, expresses an immovable firmness in refusing to do what one is entreated to do, whether that be good or bad; it is also used figuratively: as, inexorable death, time, fate. The other three words apply to feeling, which is generally bad, but unrelenting and relentless may by figure apply also to action: as, an unrelenting pursuit; a relentless massacre. Implacable applies wholly to feeling, meaning unappeasable, and in this use is the strongest of the three; it goes with such strong words as animosity and resentment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; firm; determined; unyielding; unchangeable; inflexible; relentless; -- of people and impersonal forces

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Unable to be persuaded; relentless; unrelenting
  • adjective Impossible to stop or prevent; inevitable
  • adjective Adamant; severe

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, reason
  • adjective not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin inexōrābilis : in-, not; see in– + exōrābilis, pliant (from exōrāre, to prevail upon : ex-, intensive pref.; see ex– + ōrāre, to argue).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin inexorabilis, from in- ("not") + exorabilis ("that may be moved or persuaded by entreaty"), from exorare ("to move by entreaty, to gain by entreaty"), from ex ("out") + orare ("to pray").

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Examples

  • By Mixner logic though, this still means that car ownership is in inexorable decline.

    Matthew Yglesias » The American Urban Paradox 2010

  • With newspapers and magazines in inexorable decline, with one major TV network that has declared itself to be the communications arm of the rightwing, and the others under corporate control, and with the population under 30 getting most of their "news" online anyhow, ending net neutrality will not end the principle of free speech, but it will certainly diminish its value and rig the "market place of ideas".

    Paul Abrams: Getting Out the Youth Vote: Tell Them What Republican Plans to End Net Neutrality Will Feel Like Paul Abrams 2010

  • Mogul, Sikh, and British conquerors, and then the new state of Pakistan, had all rearranged borders, but the river still expressed a certain inexorable logic — evinced by the resentment that the Pashtoons of the North-West Frontier on one bank felt for the more settled Punjabis on the other.

    The Lawless Frontier 2000

  • Mogul, Sikh, and British conquerors, and then the new state of Pakistan, had all rearranged borders, but the river still expressed a certain inexorable logic — evinced by the resentment that the Pashtoons of the North-West Frontier on one bank felt for the more settled Punjabis on the other.

    The Lawless Frontier 2000

  • There are certain inexorable prerequisites for the economic health of a nation and Canada is no exception to their application.

    What to do till Benson comes: or White Paper Ju Jitsu 1971

  • A study of the race's literature will reveal the replacement of these, in inexorable sequence, by the running metaphor, the clause metaphor, the phrase metaphor, the compound-word metaphor, and, lastly, the word metaphor.

    Phenomena of Literary Evolution 1900

  • As a number of scientists, philosophers and futurists have recently argued, there is mounting evidence in support of the suggestion that these historical episodes are symptomatic of a larger developmental trend, namely the inexorable and steady advancement of intelligence.

    Archive 2006-08-01 Mac 2006

  • In these poems, as well as in many epistles to different persons, he bewails his unhappy situation, and deprecates in the strongest terms the inexorable displeasure of Augustus.

    The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Volume 02: Augustus Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

  • In these poems, as well as in many epistles to different persons, he bewails his unhappy situation, and deprecates in the strongest terms the inexorable displeasure of Augustus.

    De vita Caesarum Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus

  • When Koheleth wishes to express the idea of inexorable law, or Fate, he has recourse to the notion of God.

    The Sceptics of the Old Testament: Job - Koheleth - Agur Emile Joseph Dillon 1894

Comments

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  • The funny thing is that inexorable is something that you can not stop. To be adamant is to be feel so strongly about something that you can not stop that person. A person can be adamant about soccer which would make it inexorable to go to a game very late at night.

    July 29, 2013

  • impossible to stop or prevent

    The rise of the computer was an inexorable shift in technology and culture.

    October 12, 2016