unalterable

American  

[uhn-awl-ter-uh-buhl] / ʌnˈɔl tər ə bəl /

adjective

1. not capable of being altered, changed, or modified.

---

unalterable British  

/ ʌnˈɔːltərəbəl, -ˈɔːltrəbəl /

adjective

1. (of a condition, truth, etc) unable to be changed or altered

---

Other Word Forms

• unalterability noun
• unalterableness noun
• unalterably adverb

Etymology

Origin of unalterable

First recorded in 1610–15; un- ¹ + alterable

Explanation

You take your dress to the tailor to be altered. He tells you he can't alter it. The dress is unalterable. Something unalterable cannot be changed. Take the prefix un-, meaning "not". Add it to the word alter, meaning "change." Tack on the suffix -able, meaning "possible." The result? Unalterable, "impossible to change." The things you've done in the past are unalterable. The only things you have the power to change are the things you're doing right now or that you will do in the future. How can you alter things that haven't happened yet? Good question. For all we know, they're unalterable too.

Example Sentences

Blanca Alfaro, the head of the Guatemalan electoral commission, responded by calling the result "unalterable" and insisted Mr Arévalo would be sworn in next month as planned.

From BBC • Dec. 8, 2023

Cryptocurrency is a type of digital money secured via encryption in a publicly viewable and purportedly unalterable way.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 15, 2022

Those differences in belief and behavior can be traced both to some mostly unalterable biological differences and some fast-changing attitudes about who can do what now.

From Washington Post • Nov. 12, 2021

In my case, the world certainly viewed me as a girl, and having no knowledge of any alternatives, I accepted my girlness as an unalterable fact.

From Slate • Jul. 16, 2018

It was something behind her eyes, something in the set of her jaw—a hope or belief or conviction—that a life is not a thing unalterable.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover