inevitable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ (UK); /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin inēvītābilis (“unavoidable”),^[2][3][4] from in-, not, and ēvītābilis, avoidable,^[2][3] from ēvītāre, to avoid, from ex-, out, and vītāre, to shun, originally to go out of the way.^[2][3] Barnhart derives vītāre from a lost adjective *vitus, gone away,^[3] while de Vaan connects it rather with invitus, unwilling.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

That cannot be avoided: about 1430 in the OED, about 1443 in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline;^[5][3][2] MWU dates it to the 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

As a noun, the inevitable, that which cannot be avoided, it is from 1850.^[5][2] Etymonline quotes Shakerley Marmion's Hide me from her inevitable eyes (1637).^[2] Invariably occurring, predictable, is a later sense.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1430 – unavoidable.^[5]
• 1637 – Marmion's inevitable eyes.^[2]
• 1850 – the inevitable (noun).^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Impossible to avoid or prevent; sure to happen.
2. Always happening or appearing; predictable.

Noun

1. (the inevitable) Something that cannot be avoided.

Word family

• inevitability
• inevitably
• inevitableness

Related words

• evitable

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin