infallible

WOTD - 4 March 2010    

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin infallibilis, from Latin in- + fallibilis. Compare French infaillible.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɪnˈfa.lɪ.b(ə)l/
• (US) IPA: /ɪnˈfæ.lə.bəl/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

infallible (comparative more infallible, superlative most infallible)

1. Without fault or weakness; incapable of error or fallacy.

   He knows about many things, but even he is not infallible.

2. certain, sure.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 4, Frankenstein^[1]:

     I see by your eagerness and the wonder and hope which your eyes express, my friend, that you expect to be informed of the secret with which I am acquainted; that cannot be; listen patiently until the end of my story, and you will easily perceive why I am reserved upon that subject. I will not lead you on, unguarded and ardent as I then was, to your destruction and infallible misery.

Translations

without fault or weakness; incapable of error or fallacy

Armenian: անսխալական (hy) (ansxalakan) Bosnian: nepogrešiv (bs) Catalan: infal·lible (ca) Croatian: nepogrešiv (hr) Czech: neomylný (cs) Danish: ufejlbarlig (da) Dutch: onfeilbaar (nl) Finnish: erehtymätön (fi) French: infaillible (fr)

German: unfehlbar (de) Italian: infallibile (it) Navajo: doo nidínéeshii Norwegian: ufeilbarlig (no) Portuguese: infalível (pt) Russian: непогрешимый (ru), безошибочный (ru) Serbian: nepogrešiv (sr) Spanish: infalible (es) Turkish: yanılmaz (tr), şaşmaz (tr), mutlak (tr), muhakkak (tr)