inevitable

What it means

1. Impossible to avoid or prevent.

   We were going so fast that the collision was inevitable.

   2 more examples

   It was inevitable that such a system should lead to the wide use of nicknames to distinguish identically named members of a family[…]

   1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xv

   To do the job thoroughly sentiment must be ignored and it seems inevitable that the famous Great Hall and the Doric Arch will have to be sacrificed to progress.

   1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 99

   Synonyms: inescapable, natural, necessary

2. Predictable or always happening.

   My outburst met with the inevitable punishment.

   2 more examples

   This horse and rider, with their free, rhythmical gallop, were the only moving things to be seen on the face of the flat country. They seemed, in the last sad light of evening, not to be there accidentally, but as an inevitable detail of the landscape.

   1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

   Every break seemed dangerous and Falcao clearly had the beating of Amorebieta. Others, being forced to stretch a foot behind them to control Arda Turan's 34th-minute cross, might simply have lashed a shot on the turn; Falcao, though, twisted back on to his left foot, leaving Amorebieta in a heap, and thumped in an inevitable finish – his 12th goal in 15 European matches this season.

   2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 04 Apr 2018

   Synonyms: certain, necessary

In a sentence

We were going so fast that the collision was inevitable.

Where it comes from

1. Latininēvītābilis“unavoidable”
2. Middle Frenchinevitable
3. Englishinevitable

From Middle French inevitable, from Latin inēvītābilis (“unavoidable”), from in- + ēvītābilis (“avoidable”), from ēvītāre (“to avoid”), from ē- (“out”) + vītāre (“to shun”).