indeflectable
|in-de-flect-a-ble|
🇺🇸
/ˌɪn.dɪˈflɛk.tə.bəl/
🇬🇧
/ˌɪn.dɪˈflɛk.tə.b(ə)l/
not able to change form
Etymology
'indeflectable' originates from Modern English, specifically formed from the negative prefix 'in-' + the verb 'deflect' + the adjectival suffix '-able', where 'in-' meant 'not', 'deflect' ultimately comes from Latin 'deflectere' meaning 'to bend aside', and '-able' meant 'capable of'.
'deflect' comes from Latin 'deflectere' > Late Latin/Old French forms and was adopted into Middle English as 'deflect'; the adjective was created in Modern English by adding 'in-' (not) and '-able' to form 'indeflectable'.
Initially related to the literal sense 'not able to be bent aside' (physical bending), the compound came to be used metaphorically/technically to mean 'not able to be inflected' (no change in grammatical form).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not capable of being inflected; not subject to grammatical inflection or change of form (e.g., of a word that does not change for tense, case, number, etc.).
In some languages or specific lexical classes, certain words are essentially indeflectable and never change form.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/12/12 10:10