corrigible
Americanadjective
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capable of being corrected or reformed.
a corrigible criminal.
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submissive to correction.
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subject to being revised, improved, or made more accurate.
a corrigible theory.
adjective
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capable of being corrected
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submissive or submitting to correction
Other Word Forms
- corrigibility noun
- corrigibleness noun
- corrigibly adverb
Etymology
Origin of corrigible
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English (from Middle French ), from Medieval Latin corrigibilis, equivalent to Latin corrig(ere) “to correct ” + -ibilis -ible
Explanation
Something that can be fixed is corrigible. When you have a chance to go back and fix the mistakes on a math test, any errors you make are corrigible. Use the adjective corrigible when you want to emphasize that something can be improved or corrected. You might argue that even a country's constitution is corrigible, or hope that your physics midterm is corrigible. A much more common word is incorrigible, which means hopeless or not fixable, but is most often used to describe someone's personality. The Latin corrigere, "to put straight or set right," is the root of both corrigible and incorrigible.
Vocabulary lists containing corrigible
On Liberty
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Antony and Cleopatra
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These are failures that are entirely corrigible if the job seeker makes the effort to become self-aware and improve his or her odds of success.
From US News • Nov. 9, 2015
Patient Mediator For much of his life, Nasser was an in corrigible conspirator, and his enemies were never benign.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was a big moment for sports-loving Hannegan too: he had been a three-sport letter man at St. Louis University, an in corrigible baseball fan in Washington and a faithful follower of the football Redskins.
From Time Magazine Archive
You have unburdened your own soul in that matter, and if they had been corrigible, you would have helped a good many more.
From Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe Compiled From Her Letters and Journals by Her Son Charles Edward Stowe by Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Do I not bear a reasonable corrigible hand over him,, Crispinus?
From The Poetaster by Jonson, Ben
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
