incorrigible
Americanadjective
-
not corrigible; bad beyond correction or reform.
incorrigible behavior; an incorrigible liar.
-
impervious to constraints or punishment; willful; unruly; uncontrollable.
an incorrigible child; incorrigible hair.
-
firmly fixed; not easily changed.
an incorrigible habit.
-
not easily swayed or influenced.
an incorrigible optimist.
noun
adjective
-
beyond correction, reform, or alteration
-
firmly rooted; ineradicable
-
philosophy (of a belief) having the property that whoever honestly believes it cannot be mistaken Compare defeasible
noun
Other Word Forms
- incorrigibility noun
- incorrigibleness noun
- incorrigibly adverb
Etymology
Origin of incorrigible
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English word from Latin word incorrigibilis. See in- 3, corrigible
Explanation
Someone incorrigible seems to be beyond correcting, improving, or changing. When you talk about an incorrigible bully, you're saying they're always going to push other people around. Even though incorrigible implies a person is kind of hopeless, it's often used as a light-hearted word. When we describe someone as an incorrigible flirt or as an incorrigible gossip, we mean that this is just the way they are, and it would be foolish to try and change them. If someone is just being obnoxious as usual, you could say "You're incorrigible!"
Vocabulary lists containing incorrigible
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Anti-Antonyms: Words Without Opposites
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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.
As an incorrigible collector of classical music recordings for 30 years, I confess I have never thought of the National Symphony Orchestra’s appearance on an album cover a reason to buy it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
Having signed a bipartisan package of bills, Newsom will ask voters to approve billions of dollars aimed at alleviating California’s seemingly incorrigible homelessness crisis.
From Salon • Oct. 26, 2023
There’s that insulin analogy again, she’s nothing if not incorrigible, that Marie.
From Scientific American • Apr. 20, 2023
The problem here is Nézet-Séguin, and the incorrigible fussiness in his conducting.
From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2023
According to Burr, the immediate incident only proved that Hamilton’s libelous ways were incorrigible.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
