Ineluctable

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Dr. Goodword
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Ineluctable

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Oct 26, 2018 8:05 pm

• ineluctable •


Pronunciation: in-ê-lêk-tê-bêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Inescapable, unavoidable, inevitable. 2. Irresistible.

Notes: Today's Good Word has recently become an orphan negative, a negated adjective with no positive partner. It now stands alongside such stalwarts as impeccable, hapless, inane, insipid, immaculate, impromptu, and nonchalant. Have you ever behaved in a chalant fashion? Even peccably so? That would seem to be an eminently eluctable situation but it cannot be since, despite 4.3 million occurrences on the Web, all English dictionaries agree that eluctable does not exist. You may use the negative adverb, ineluctably, and the noun, ineluctability, though.

In Play: The basic sense of this Good Word is hopeless inescapability: "An ineluctable attraction to the open road often overcomes Lisa Carr in the middle of faculty cocktail parties." The attempt to resist ineluctable urges is a task that tests the mettle of the best of us: "Charlotte Russe found herself fighting an ineluctable urge to cross the restaurant to the dessert cart and help herself rather than wait for the waitress."

Word History: The Oxford English Dictionary, granddad of them all, cites the following use of the verb underlying today's adjective in 1682: "They did eluctate out of their injuries with credit to themselves." The meaning of the verb was to escape with a great struggle. English, however, apparently borrowed today's word independently of the verb, from the Latin adjective ineluctabilis, made up of in- "not" + eluctabilis "penetrable". The adjective here came from the verb eluctari "to struggle out of", composed of the preposition ex "out of" + luctari "to struggle".
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Slava
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Re: Ineluctable

Postby Slava » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:18 pm

I guess Ms. Russe was reluctant to cause a scene. However, unless the meaning of our word is figurative, she must have, or at least caused a bit of a stir. If she was fighting an ineluctable urge, that means she has to have given in, no?

Reluctant is related by the way, in case you didn't notice the similarity. Might even make a good Good Word?
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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