fallible
[fal-uh-buh l]
- (of persons) liable to err, especially in being deceived or mistaken.
- liable to be erroneous or false; not accurate: fallible information.
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Origin of fallible
1375–1425; late Middle English < Medieval Latin fallibilis, equivalent to Latin fall(ī) (passive of fallere to deceive) + -ibilis -ible
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fallibility
Contemporary Examples
The furor over the 47 percent remarks, the two debate losses, and much else--these aren't signs of his misjudgment or fallibility.
An air of impotence in a president—a perception of fallibility in a time of crisis—can be political death.
A half-dozen wars showed McAllester the fallibility of other men, but it made him angrier at the world.
Historical Examples
He has discovered that his appeal to the fallibility of sense was really an illusion.
TheaetetusPlato
Although well aware of this, he did not believe in his own fallibility.
Post HasteR.M. Ballantyne
For how can absolute infallibility be blended with fallibility?
Confessions of an Inquiring SpiritSamuel Taylor Coleridge
It is very difficult to get men to acknowledge their own fallibility.
The reality of a faculty is not disproved by its fallibility.
Theoretical EthicsMilton Valentine
fallible
- capable of being mistaken; erring
- liable to mislead
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Word Origin
C15: from Medieval Latin fallibilis, from Latin fallere to deceive
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fallibility
fallible
adj.
early 15c., from Medieval Latin fallibilis "liable to err, deceitful." literally "that can be deceived," from Latin fallere "deceive" (see fail).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper