1
Core quality
Impossible to stop, prevent, or persuade to change course.
Example
The shoreline's inexorable retreat threatened the village.
inexorable
/ɪnˈeksərəbəl/ · in-EK-suh-ruh-buladjective
Impossible to stop, prevent, or persuade to change course.
Use inexorable to express this relationship precisely: impossible to stop, prevent, or persuade to change course.
What inexorable Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Attributive or predicative use
Use this adjective before a suitable noun or after a linking verb such as be or seem.
Example
The novel traces the inexorable decline of the dynasty.
3
Analytical distinction
Choose it when this exact descriptive quality matters; a related word may overlap without conveying the same trait.
Example
The trend is powerful but not necessarily inexorable.
Use inexorable Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
The shoreline's inexorable retreat threatened the village.
The novel traces the inexorable decline of the dynasty.
The trend is powerful but not necessarily inexorable.
Precision Matters
Inexorable overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
inexorable
vs.Means impossible to stop, prevent, or persuade to change course.
ineluctable
Means inescapable; inevitable.
inexorable
vs.Means impossible to stop, prevent, or persuade to change course.
irrevocable
Means impossible to reverse, revoke, alter, or take back.
inexorable
vs.Means impossible to stop, prevent, or persuade to change course.
thwart
Means prevent, block, or frustrate a plan, effort, or harmful outcome.
inexorable
vs.Means impossible to stop, prevent, or persuade to change course.
cease
Means stop happening or bring an activity, process, or condition to an end.
Test inexorable in Context
The spread appears impossible to stop or prevent.
1
Without intervention, the disease's ___ spread seemed certain to continue.