that cannot be avoided or evaded; certain to happen
Origin of inevitable
Middle English from Classical Latin inevitabilis: see in- and evitable that which is inevitable: often preceded by the
Death is inevitable
The definition of inevitable is something that is certain to happen.
An example of inevitable is death.
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"inevitable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable>.
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inevitable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable
inevitable
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"inevitable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable>.
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inevitable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable
inevitable
adjective
- Impossible to avoid or prevent; certain to happen. See Synonyms at certain.
- Invariably occurring or appearing; predictable: the inevitable changes of the seasons.
Related Forms:
- in·ev′i·ta·bil′i·ty in·ev′i·ta·ble·ness
noun
- in·ev′i·ta·bly
adverb
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"inevitable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable>.
APA Style
inevitable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable
Adjective
(not comparable)
- Impossible to avoid or prevent.
- We were going so fast that the collision was inevitable.
- Predictable, or always happening.
- My outburst met with the inevitable punishment.
Usage notes
Largely synonymous with unavoidable, slightly more formal (borrowed as a unit from Latin, rather than formed in English), and with nuances of a natural consequence that occurs after – “inevitable punishment”, “inevitable result”. By contrast, unavoidable has some nuance of existing circumstances – “I was unavoidably detained.” – without there necessarily being a cause. Further, unavoidable has nuances of “could not have happened any other way, even if circumstances were different”, while inevitable connotes “given circumstances, this is the necessary result.”.
Compare “the disaster was inevitable”, meaning “sooner or later the disaster would happen (because they did not prepare)” with “the disaster was unavoidable”, meaning “even if they had prepared, the disaster would have happened”.
Often used with a negative connotation, but may be used with a positive or neutral sense of fate, as in “Given our preparations, our victory was inevitable.” in which case *unavoidable is not acceptable.
In the same manner, impreventable and inevitable have different nuances. The sense “the disease was inevitable” means “It was natural to suffer the disease”; the sense “the disease was impreventable” means “There was no preventive methods against the disease”.
Thus, "inevitable" indicates "unable to avoid due to natural or necessary matters", "unavoidable" indicates "unable to avoid due to incidental matters", impreventable indicates "unable to avoid due to the absence of preventive methods".
Antonyms
- (impossible to avoid): evitable, escapable, avoidable, preventable
- (always happening): impossible, incidental
Antonyms
Origin
See also: inévitableFrom Middle French inevitable, from Latin inevitabilis (“unavoidable”), from in + evitabilis (“avoidable”), from evitare (“to avoid”), from e (“out”) + vitare (“to shun”).
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"inevitable." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable>.
APA Style
inevitable. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Inevitable
Sentence Examples
- There will be inevitable consequences, which mold the future.
- I didn't think the decision was inevitable.
- It is inevitable that someone will try to offer a better price.
- A trip up to Reesside seems inevitable to resolve the issue.
- Such a shift does not make success inevitable: effort does.
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WORDS NEAR inevitable IN THE DICTIONARY
- inevitable
- inevidence
- inevident
- inevitabilities