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
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
Higher up on the island, outside the three-story cellhouse where some of the nation’s most incorrigible prisoners were once locked away in primitive cells, 10-year-old Melody Garcia, visiting with family from Concord, appeared equally perplexed.
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2025
There’s that insulin analogy again, she’s nothing if not incorrigible, that Marie.
From Scientific American • Apr. 20, 2023
“Old Jerry Lee should have been that kind of fool,” he yodels, after explaining that he’s incorrigible; years later, he’d sing it with Keith Richards.
From New York Times • Oct. 28, 2022
Perhaps the woman had wed a seaman of incorrigible appetites and hated the reminder—Cora didn’t know the source of her animus, or care.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
