incontestable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of incontestable
First recorded in 1665–75; in- 3 + contestable ( def. )
Explanation
Something incontestable can't be argued with — it's absolutely true or right. It's an incontestable fact that the earth rotates around the sun. You can't dispute something that's truly incontestable, because it's absolutely clear and unmistakably true. The witness to a car accident could say that it's the incontestable fault of the driver who ran a red light. And once you've signed all the necessary forms and been handed the keys, you're the incontestable owner of your new car. Incontestable adds the "not" prefix, in-, to contestable, "opposable," or "arguable."
Vocabulary lists containing incontestable
Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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Letters to a Young Poet
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Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
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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.
That there was complacency and lack of focus in the bureaucracy is incontestable.
From Salon • Feb. 28, 2026
“He just had that spirit of being here before and knowing a lot and an incontestable, delusional positivity about everything. I just think that was his gift.”
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 15, 2024
Five years on and his prominence is still incontestable.
From BBC • Sep. 8, 2023
More than ever, moving images — body cameras that monitor police conduct, the video review of athletic event rulings — purport to capture the incontestable truth.
From New York Times • Aug. 5, 2021
Standing there he realized, all at once, that he had acquired an overt, incontestable fear directed toward the principal android.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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.
