irrefutable
See also: irréfutable
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Late Latin irrefūtābilis, from ir- (“not”) + refūtābilis (“refutable”), from refūtō (“to refute”) + -bilis (“-able”), equivalent to ir- + refutable.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˌɪɹɪˈfjuːtəbəl/, /ˌɪɹəˈfjuːtəbəl/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
- (rare) IPA(key): /ɪˈɹɛf(j)ətəbəl/, /ɪˈɹɛfjuːtəbəl/[1]
Adjective
[edit]irrefutable (comparative more irrefutable, superlative most irrefutable)
- undeniable; unable to be disproved or refuted
- Antonym: refutable
- 1653, Henry More, An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC:
- […] clear and irrefutable evidence of the Cause I have undertaken
- 1860, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC:
- True, there had been nothing, in his lifetime, viler than this man. She knew it, there was no other fact within her consciousness that she felt to be so certain; and yet, because her persecutor found himself safe and irrefutable in death, he frowned upon his victim, and threw back the blame on her!
- 1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
- He had formed his mind by Helvetius, whose system he deemed irrefutable, and in whom alone he had faith.
- 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC:
- I have listened also to the remarks of counsel, with high interest—and especially will I commend the masterly and irrefutable logic of the distinguished gentleman who represents the plaintiff. But gentlemen, let us beware how we allow mere human testimony, human ingenuity in argument and human ideas of equity, to influence us at a moment so solemn as this.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]undeniable, unable to be disproved
References
[edit]- ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909), A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)[1], volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 5.66, page 170: “ir)refutable generally /riˈfjuˑtəbl/, rarely [ˈrefutəbl]”
Spanish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Late Latin irrefūtābilis, from in- (“not”) + refūtābilis (“refutable”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]irrefutable m or f (masculine and feminine plural irrefutables)
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “irrefutable”, 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
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms prefixed with ir-
- English 5-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- Spanish terms borrowed from Late Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Late Latin
- Spanish 5-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/able
- Rhymes:Spanish/able/5 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives