incontrovertible
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of incontrovertible
First recorded in 1640–50; in- 3 + controvertible ( def. )
Explanation
When something is incontrovertible, it is undeniably, absolutely, 100 percent, completely true. That rain is wet is an incontrovertible fact. If you look at incontrovertible, you see that -controver-, as in controversy, is hiding inside. Add in the prefix, and it's easy to see that incontrovertible means there is no controversy about something, or, in other words, it is unchangeable and true. Incontrovertible evidence or proof is what you are looking for if you suspect that someone is doing something wrong.
Vocabulary lists containing incontrovertible
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The Namesake
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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.
In these Straussian terms, Churchill’s greatness was incontrovertible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Start with some incontrovertible rules to live by.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 9, 2026
Sir Mark, speaking before he had seen the film's Wednesday evening broadcast, said that "where there is incontrovertible evidence" of wrongdoing it is likely that accused serving officers would be dismissed within weeks.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2025
Most egregiously, they seek to conceal an incontrovertible truth: roughly 38 million Americans currently live at the poverty line, 11 million of whom are children.
From Salon ● Jan. 20, 2025
Like so many cold, weak people, when faced at last by the incontrovertible disaster she exhumed from somewhere a sort of fortitude, strength.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
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.
