inexorable

comparative more inexorable · superlative most inexorable

1. Impossible to prevent or stop; inevitable.First known use mid 16th c.

   […] but inexorable yron detaines him in the dungeon of the night, fo that (pure creature) hee can neither traffique with the mercers and tailers as he was wont, nor dominere in tavernes as hee ought.

   1592, Thomas Nashe, Pierce Penniless

   5 more examples

   What greater follie can there be, than for a man to torment himselfe for nothing, and that willingly and of purpose, to pray and importune him, whom he knowes to be inexorable; to knocke at that dore that cannot be opened?

   1615, Pierre Charron, Of Wisdome: Three Bookes, page 356

   [W]e ſhould no longer behold the ſad ſpectacle of ſo many miſerable captives of our ſpecies ſtretching forth their hands, and bending at the cloſe of their exiſtence, under the tyranny of imperious and inexorable habits, which gird them and carry them whither they would not.

   1793, “[Appendix to the Tenth Volume of the Monthly Review Enlarged.] Art. XXII. Strictures upon the Discipline of the University of Cambridge, Addressed to the Senate. 8vo. pp. 53. 1s. 6d. Shepperson and Reynolds. 1792.”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume X, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, page 568, column 1

   What was my knowledge? it only served to show its own vanity; what was my power, when its exercise only served to work out the decrees of an inexorable necessity? I had parted myself from my kind, but I had not acquired the nature of a spirit. I had lost of humanity but its illusions, and they alone are what render it supportable.

   1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Enchantress, pages 22–23

   All this, laws, prejudices, acts, men, things, went and came above him, according to the complicated and mysterious movement that God impresses upon civilization, marching over him and crushing him with an indescribably tranquil cruelty and inexorable indifference.

   1862, Victor Hugo, “The Depths of Despair”, in Cha[rle]s E[dwin] Wilbour, transl., Les Misérables. Fantine. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: [George W.] Carleton, publisher, […], →OCLC, book 2, page 58, column 2

   It is more than the story of the fence and those who maintain it. It is a journey not just into the inland and along the length of the fence; it is a journey into the Australian psyche, reminding us of the inexorable struggle against the implacable wilderness, of the thin line that separates the tamed from the untamed, and the unnamed menace that broods just beyond the last suburbs.

   2003 November 15, Norman Abjorensen, “The Dog Fence: By James Woodford: Text, 260pp, $30 [book review]”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, N.S.W., archived from the original on 31 Jan 2019

   Synonyms: implacable, ineluctable, inescapable, unpreventable, unrelenting, unstoppable, avoidless, certain · Antonyms: exorable

2. Unable to be persuaded; relentless; unrelenting.First known use mid 16th c.

   Armed with the authority of theſe decrees, James [VI and I] reſolved to cruſh entirely the mutinous ſpirit of his ſubjects. […] The King continued inexorable, the city was declared to have forfeited its privileges as a Corporation, and to be liable to all the penalties of treaſon.

   1759, William Robertson, “Book VIII”, in The History of Scotland, during the Reigns of Queen Mary and of King James VI, till His Accession to the Crown of England. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar […], →OCLC, pages 202–203

   Antonyms: exorable

3. Adamant; severe.

   But to ſhew how God of a moſt loving Father becomes a ſevere and inexorable judge, without any change, this alone is to the purpoſe. For the very māner of propoſing it doth imply the ceaſing to be a loving Father which he was, but becomes a ſevere & inexorable judge, which he was not.

   1631, William Twisse, “How God of a Most Lovinge Father Becomes a Severe and Inexorable Judge”, in A Discovery of D. Iacksons Vanitie. […], [Amsterdam]: [Printed by the successors of Giles Thorp, and at London by W. Jones], →OCLC, page 660

   1 more example

   You ſay, there is no Nation, except our own, where there is any Distinction made, betwixt Manſlaughter and Murder; and that the Edict against Duelling in France, is of all others the moſt inexorable. I muſt beg Leave to differ with you in both theſe Points; the Edict againſt Duelling is no more inexorable than any other Edict, but I believe it to be more juſt, becauſe founded upon the Law of God, […]

   1735 December, “Fog’s Journal, Dec. 13. Nº 371. To the Renown’d Squire Walsingham.”, in The London Magazine: Or, Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer, volume VIII (New Series), London: Printed by C[harles] Ackers, […]; for T[homas] Cox, […]; J[ohn] Clarke, […]; and T[homas] Astley, […], →OCLC, page 668, column 1

   Antonyms: exorable