incorrigible
Americanadjective
-
not corrigible; bad beyond correction or reform.
incorrigible behavior; an incorrigible liar.
-
impervious to constraints or punishment; willful; unruly; uncontrollable.
an incorrigible child; incorrigible hair.
-
firmly fixed; not easily changed.
an incorrigible habit.
-
not easily swayed or influenced.
an incorrigible optimist.
noun
adjective
-
beyond correction, reform, or alteration
-
firmly rooted; ineradicable
-
philosophy (of a belief) having the property that whoever honestly believes it cannot be mistaken Compare defeasible
noun
Other Word Forms
- incorrigibility noun
- incorrigibleness noun
- incorrigibly adverb
Etymology
Origin of incorrigible
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English word from Latin word incorrigibilis. See in- 3, corrigible
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As an incorrigible collector of classical music recordings for 30 years, I confess I have never thought of the National Symphony Orchestra’s appearance on an album cover a reason to buy it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 31, 2025
Trump’s parents shipped their incorrigible second son off to military school 90 minutes outside New York City just after his 13th birthday.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 13, 2024
Having signed a bipartisan package of bills, Newsom will ask voters to approve billions of dollars aimed at alleviating California’s seemingly incorrigible homelessness crisis.
From Salon • Oct. 26, 2023
“He always thought I was an incorrigible optimist. So he was genuinely astonished,” Bird would later say.
From New York Times • Jul. 10, 2023
Trying to extinguish the spark of the rest—the merely incorrigible, those holding on to civilization by a thread—itself feels like a monstrosity.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
