ineradicable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ineradicable
First recorded in 1810–20; in- 3 + eradicable
Explanation
When it's impossible to change or eliminate something, it's ineradicable. Unfortunately, your dad's ineradicable dislike of furry animals means you'll have to wait until you have a place of your own to get that dog you dream of. The adjective ineradicable comes from eradicate, which means "totally destroy," and the prefix in-, "opposite of." So when something's ineradicable, whether it's a quality like hostility or a situation like inequality, there's just no way to destroy it. Though negative things are most often described as ineradicable, you can also praise your friend's ineradicable optimism or admire your teacher's ineradicable enthusiasm.
Vocabulary lists containing ineradicable
Nickel and Dimed
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"Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife," Vocabulary from the literary criticism
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Prometheus Unbound
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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.
The nation’s multilayered historical background has been variously stamped by a basic Arabic heritage, ineradicable remnants of protracted Ottoman Turkish rule and the long arm of the British colonial empire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
How should millennial, liberal democracies balance legitimate national pride with an ineradicable legacy of wrongs done to indigenous peoples?
From Washington Times ● Jan. 26, 2023
We are probably somewhat ineradicable — check out the near-extinction event from 73,000 years ago that left only a few thousand humans alive on the planet — that was a close one!
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2022
DNA is the oldest network that exists among us, older than Facebook or marriage records, older than society or family, immutable and ineradicable.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 2021
At a time when mental illness carried a deep and almost ineradicable stigma, Elizebeth refused to let it create a chasm between her and her husband.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
