immedicable

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French immedicable and its source, Latin immedicābilis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɛdɪkəb(ə)l/

Adjective

immedicable (comparative more immedicable, superlative most immedicable)

1. Incurable; not able to be assisted by medicine.
   • 1650, John Donne, Elegie XVII:

     Here love receiv'd immedicable harmes, / And was dispoiled of his daring armes.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 42:

     wounds immedicable / Ranckle, and feſter, and gangrene, / To black mortification.

   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:

     The beast
     Has a loud trumpet like the Scarabee,
     His crookèd tail is barbed with many stings,
     Each able to make a thousand wounds, and each
     Immedicable; from his convex eyes
     He sees fair things in many hideous shapes,
     And trumpets all his falsehood to the world.