Meanings
plural incurables
- One who cannot be cured.
Heatherlegh, the Doctor, kept, in addition to his regular practice, a hospital on his private account — an arrangement of loose-boxes for Incurables, his friends called it — but it was really a sort of fitting-up shed for craft that had been damaged by stress of weather.
1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler and Co., page 7
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveincapable of being cured
adjectiveunalterable in disposition or habits
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinincurabilis
- Old Frenchincurable
- Englishincurable
From Old French incurable, from Late Latin incurabilis.
More words from Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἀνίατος
- ἀνίατος (aníatos)unable to be cured
Arabic لَا رَجَاء مِن شِفَائِه
- لَا رَجَاء مِن شِفَائِه (lā rajāʔ min šifāʔih)unable to be cured
Bulgarian неизлечи́м
- неизлечи́м (neizlečím)unable to be cured
Catalan incurable
- incurableunable to be cured
Chinese Mandarin 醫不好的 /医不好的, 不可救藥的 /不可救药的
- 醫不好的 /医不好的 (yī bùhǎo de)unable to be cured
- 不可救藥的 /不可救药的 (bùkě jiùyào de)unable to be cured
Czech nevyléčitelný
- nevyléčitelnýunable to be cured
Danish uhelbredelig
- uhelbredeligunable to be cured
Dutch ongeneeslijk
- ongeneeslijkunable to be cured
Finnish parantumaton
- parantumatonunable to be cured
French incurable
- incurableunable to be cured
German unheilbar
- unheilbarunable to be cured
Greek ανίατος
- ανίατος (aníatos)unable to be cured
Hindi असाध्य
- असाध्य (asādhya)unable to be cured
Hungarian gyógyíthatatlan, javíthatatlan
- gyógyíthatatlanunable to be cured
- javíthatatlanfiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- menthetetlenfiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- megrögzöttfiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
Italian incurabile
- incurabileunable to be cured
Japanese 不治の, 治らない
- 不治のunable to be cured
- 治らない (naoranai)unable to be cured
Korean 불치의, 치유할 수 없다
- 불치의 (bulchi-ui)unable to be cured
- 치유할 수 없다 (chiyuhal su eopda)unable to be cured
Latin insanabilis, desperatus
- insanabilisunable to be cured
- desperatusunable to be cured
Norwegian Bokmål uhelbredelig
- uhelbredeligunable to be cured
Polish nieuleczalny, nieuleczalny
- nieuleczalnyunable to be cured
- nieuleczalnyfiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
Portuguese incurável
- incurávelunable to be cured
Romanian incurabil
- incurabilunable to be cured
Russian неизлечи́мый
- неизлечи́мый (neizlečímyj)unable to be cured
Slovak nevyliečiteľný
- nevyliečiteľnýunable to be cured
Spanish incurable, empedernido
- incurableunable to be cured
- empedernidofiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- de a tirofiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- de al tirofiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- dealtirofiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- deatirofiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- dialtirofiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
- diatirofiguratively: irremediable, incorrigible
Swedish obotlig
- obotligunable to be cured
Thai รักษาไม่หาย
- รักษาไม่หายunable to be cured
Turkish dermansız
- dermansızunable to be cured
Ukrainian невиліко́вний
- невиліко́вний (nevylikóvnyj)unable to be cured
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
incurable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incurable
“incurable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incurable. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “incurable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incurable.
Source: incurable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.