indestructible

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *né

Proto-Indo-European *n̥-

Proto-Italic *n̥-

Latin in-bor.

Middle English in-

English in-

English destruct

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlis

Latin -bilis

Latin -ibilis

Old French -ibleder.

Middle English -ible

English -ible

English destructible

English indestructible

From in- + destructible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪndɪˈstɹʌktɪbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

indestructible (not comparable)

1. Not destructible; incapable of decomposition or of being destroyed; invincible.

   Synonyms: undestroyable, undestructable, unbreakable, unruinable, unwreckable

   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 84:

     But this was precisely what Rosa Luxemburg believed; and she held that the revolutionary potential of the working masses was indestructible, though it might be temporarily stifled by arrogant leaders.

Antonyms

• destructible, destroyable, breakable, wreckable, ruinable, fragile (capable of being destroyed)
• inconstructible, improducible, unbuildable (incapable of being constructed)

Derived terms

• indestructibility
• indestructibleness
• indestructibly

Translations

not destructible

• Armenian: անկործան (hy) (ankorcan), անկործանելի (hy) (ankorcaneli)
• Belarusian: неразбуральны (njerazburalʹny), непарушны (njeparušny)
• Bulgarian: неразбиваем (bg) (nerazbivaem)
• Catalan: indestructible (ca)
• Czech: nezničitelný
• Dutch: onverwoestbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: nedetruebla
• Finnish: tuhoutumaton (fi)
• French: indestructible (fr)
• Galician: indestruible
• German: unzerstörbar (de), unvernichtbar
• Greek: άφθαρτος (el) (áfthartos), ακατάλυτος (el) m (akatálytos), αντίστρεπτος (antístreptos), άθραυστος (el) (áthrafstos), ανθεκτικός (el) (anthektikós), ακατέστραπτος (akatéstraptos), ακατεδάφιστος (el) (akatedáfistos), άτρωτος (el) (átrotos), ακατανίκητος (el) (akataníkitos)

  Ancient Greek: ἀνώλεθρος (anṓlethros), ἀτειρής (ateirḗs), ἀκατάστρεπτος (akatástreptos)

• Hindi: अविनाशी (hi) (avināśī)
• Hungarian: elpusztíthatatlan (hu)
• Italian: indistruttibile (it)
• Japanese: 壊せない (ja) (kowasenai), 潰せない (ja) (tsubusenai), びくともしない (bikutomo-shinai), 丈夫な (ja) (jōbu na), 堅い (ja) (katai)
• Latin: indēlēbilis
• Manx: neuhraartagh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: som ikke kan ødelegges (no), uforgjengelig (no), uslitelig

• Polish: niezniszczalny (pl)
• Portuguese: indestrutível (pt)
• Romanian: indestructibil (ro) m or n
• Russian: неруши́мый (ru) (nerušímyj), неразруши́мый (ru) (nerazrušímyj)
• Spanish: indestructible
• Swedish: oförstörbar (sv), outplånlig (sv), oförgänglig
• Ukrainian: незнище́нний (neznyščénnyj), незруйно́вний (nezrujnóvnyj)

See also

• durable
• strong
• impenetrable

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “indestructible”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “indestructible”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Catalan

Etymology

From in- +‎ destructible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [in.dəs.tɾukˈtib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [in.des.tɾukˈti.ble]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [in.des.tɾukˈtib.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Adjective

indestructible m or f (masculine and feminine plural indestructibles)

1. indestructible

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin indestructibilis. By surface analysis, in- +‎ destructible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.dɛs.tʁyk.tibl/

Adjective

indestructible (plural indestructibles)

1. indestructible

   Antonym: destructible

Further reading

• “indestructible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /indestɾuɡˈtible/ [ĩn̪.d̪es.t̪ɾuɣ̞ˈt̪i.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: in‧des‧truc‧ti‧ble

Adjective

indestructible m or f (masculine and feminine plural indestructibles)

1. indestructible

   Antonym: destructible

Derived terms

• indestructibilidad

Further reading

• “indestructible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025