inviolable Hear it!

inviolable Definition

in·vio·lable (in vī′ə lə bəl)

adjective

  1. not to be violated; not to be profaned or injured; sacred an inviolable promise
  2. that cannot be violated; indestructible the inviolable heavens

Etymology: MFr < L inviolabilis

inviolable Related Forms
in·vi′o·labil′·ity noun in·vi′o·lably adverb
inviolable Synonyms

inviolable

modif.

  1. Divine

    holy, sacred, sacrosanct; see divine 2.

  2. Indestructible

    durable, unbreakable, stable, unassailable; see permanent 2.

inviolable Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • right: He said: We, the citizens of the world, have an inviolable right to live.
  • law: It's the oldest and most inviolable law of science, logic and reason.
  • place: So let them not come near the Inviolable Place of Worship after this their year.
  • principle: This is an inviolable principle of our international policy.
  • rule: This practically inviolable rule of consistency might come ( as Bauman himself suggests ) from the juridical pretensions sociology had from its birth.
  • dignity: He had stood for the inviolable dignity of the human person and gave hope " to all those suffering under godless tyranny " .

Modifying Another Word

  • so: Yet there is a secret, but it is so inviolable that it has never been confided or whispered to anyone.
  • not: These categories are useful, but not inviolable, and there is much overlap in the careers of individuals.

Used with adjective complement

  • hold: The true reason why the oak was held inviolable may have its origins with the Iron Age Druids and their use of mistletoe.
inviolable Quotes

Still nursing the unconquerable hope, Still clutching the inviolable shade.

—Arnold, Matthew

Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the happiness of his humble home, remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan, among the winter snows, is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God as can be your own.

—Gladstone,W(illiam) E(wart)