insusceptible

American  

[in-suh-sep-tuh-buhl] / ˌɪn səˈsɛp tə bəl /

adjective

1. not susceptible; incapable of being influenced or affected (usually followed by of orto ).

   insusceptible of flattery; insusceptible to infection.

---

insusceptible British  

/ ˌɪnsəˈsɛptəbəl /

adjective

1. not capable of being affected (by); not susceptible (to)

---

Other Word Forms

• insusceptibility noun
• insusceptibly adverb

Etymology

Origin of insusceptible

First recorded in 1595–1605; in- ³ + susceptible

Explanation

If you're insusceptible to something, you're unlikely to be harmed or affected by it. The comic book hero Superman is famously insusceptible to everything except for Kryptonite; it's the only substance to which he's vulnerable. If you've had the chicken pox vaccine, you'll be insusceptible to the chicken pox virus, and if you aren't interested in music, you're probablykrypto insusceptible to a particularly poignant, bittersweet melody that makes your friend cry. Kids who are insusceptible to TV commercials don't pay any attention to them (and don't beg their parents for the latest toys).

Example Sentences

These grave questions are as yet insusceptible of answer.

From The Teacher Essays and Addresses on Education by Palmer, Alice Freeman

After a disease has been endemic among a people for many generations that people gradually becomes quite insusceptible to its effects and suffers much less from it than before.

From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)

Immunity.—Some persons are insusceptible to infection by certain diseases, from which they are said to enjoy a natural immunity.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Thomson, Alexis

It is from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards wide, always rapid, rocky, and insusceptible of navigation.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson

This belief is insusceptible of proof, but rests entirely upon our religious feelings and is rooted purely in our emotional life.

From Jewish Theology by Kohler, Kaufmann