inevitable English · revision 7923

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1430|origins=la inevitabilis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ ''(UK)''; /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|inevitabilis|alt=inēvītābilis|t=unavoidable]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from in-, not, and ēvītābilis, avoidable,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from ēvītāre, to avoid, from ex-, out, and vītāre, to shun, originally to go out of the way.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Barnhart derives vītāre from a lost adjective *vitus, gone away,^(Barnhart 1988) while de Vaan connects it rather with invitus, unwilling.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ That cannot be avoided: about 1430 in the OED, about 1443 in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline;^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) MWU dates it to the 14th century.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun, ''the inevitable'', that which cannot be avoided, it is from 1850.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Etymonline quotes Shakerley Marmion's ''Hide me from her inevitable eyes'' (1637).^(Etymonline) Invariably occurring, predictable, is a later sense.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1430 – unavoidable.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1637 – Marmion's inevitable eyes.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1850 – the inevitable (noun).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Impossible to avoid or prevent; sure to happen.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Always happening or appearing; [[predictable]].^(AHD)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(the inevitable)'' Something that cannot be avoided.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[inevitability]]

+ * [[inevitably]]

+ * [[inevitableness]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[evitable]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}