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
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.
Corrigible, kor′i-ji-bl, adj. that may be corrected: open to correction.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
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.