inoperable
Americanadjective
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not operable or practicable.
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Medicine/Medical. not admitting of a surgical operation because the pathological condition is not amenable to cure by surgery or because of undue risk.
adjective
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incapable of being implemented or operated; unworkable
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surgery not suitable for operation without risk, esp (of a malignant tumour) because metastasis has rendered surgery useless
Other Word Forms
- inoperability noun
- inoperably adverb
Etymology
Origin of inoperable
Explanation
An inoperable condition is one that can't be fixed through surgery. If someone's diagnosed with inoperable cancer, it means that an operation would not be helpful. Many kinds of cancer can be treated at least partly through surgery, but those that can't are inoperable. Another way to use this adjective is to mean "not working." If your computer is inoperable, it won't turn on, and if your fireplace is inoperable, you can't actually light a fire in it. Operable, "able to be used," comes from operate, which has a Latin root, operari, "to work." The prefix in- means "not."
Vocabulary lists containing inoperable
I, Robot
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Salt to the Sea
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -able, -ible
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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.
At night, after the bookstore closed, he, sometimes with the help of friends, pushed the inoperable vehicle into the lot at Quirky and slept in it.
From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026
His own health issues followed the death of his former bandmate Tom Parker, in 2022 at the age of 33, after he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026
New Start required the Navy to convert submarine missile tubes, making them inoperable.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026
The city’s parking enforcement and transportation officers were removed from the field over the weekend after copper wire thieves damaged a key communications tower in Elysian Park, leaving several departments with inoperable radios.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 29, 2025
Soon, with Gey anesthetized on the operating table, surgeons opened him up and found that the cancer was inoperable —growths covered his stomach, spleen, liver, and intestines.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
