indelible

English

WOTD – 26 January 2006

Etymology

From Latin indelebilis (“indestructible”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɛləbl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

indelible (comparative more indelible, superlative most indelible)

1. Having the quality of being difficult to delete, remove, wash away, blot out, or efface.

   Synonym: unerasable

   Antonyms: delible, uninsertable

   This ink spot on the contract is indelible.

   This stain on my shirt is indelible.

   Written with indelible pen.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 235:

     The brow was smooth and fair; no deep thought, born of deep feeling, had grown there—those indelible lines which stamp even youth with age.

2. (figurative) Incapable of being canceled, lost, or forgotten.

   Synonyms: unerasable, unforgettable

   That horrible story just might make an indelible impression on the memory.

   • 2014 August 29, Ruzwana Bashir, “The untold story of how a culture of shame perpetuates abuse. I know, I was a victim”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     During our investigation it became clear that for three decades many other women had suffered at the hands of our abuser, but they had refused to testify against him because of the indelible stigma it would bring.

   • 2020 April 16, Patricia Cohen, “Straggling in a Good Economy, and Now Struggling in a Crisis”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     An indelible image from the Great Depression features a well-dressed family seated with their dog in a comfy car, smiling down from an oversize billboard on weary souls standing in line at a relief agency.

3. Incapable of being annulled.
   • November 7, 1678, Thomas Sprat, a sermon preached at the Anniversary Meeting of the Sons of Clergymen in the Church of St Mary-le-Bow

     They are […] endued with indelible power from above.

Antonyms

• delible

Related terms

• indelibility
• indelibly

Translations

difficult to delete, remove or wash away

• Bulgarian: неизличим (bg) (neizličim)
• Catalan: indeleble
• Dutch: onverwijderbaar, onuitwisbaar (nl)
• Esperanto: neforigebla
• Finnish: lähtemätön (fi), pysyvä (fi)
• French: indélébile (fr)
• Galician: indeleble, indelébel
• German: hartnäckig (de), unauslöschlich
• Greek: ανεξίτηλος (el) (anexítilos)

  Ancient Greek: ἀνεξάλειπτος (anexáleiptos)

• Italian: indelebile (it)
• Japanese: 消せない (ja) (kesenai), 削除できない (ja) (sakujo dekinai)
• Manx: neunaardagh, neuastyrtagh, neuvooghee, do-scryst
• Polish: (being difficult to delete or remove) nieusuwalny, (being difficult to wash away) niezmywalny
• Portuguese: indelével (pt), inextinguível (pt)
• Russian: несмыва́емый (ru) m (nesmyvájemyj), нестира́емый m (nestirájemyj)
• Spanish: indeleble (es)
• Ukrainian: незмивний m (nezmyvnyj), невивідний m (nevyvidnyj)

incapable of being canceled or forgotten

• Bulgarian: незаличим (bg) (nezaličim)
• Dutch: onvergetelijk (nl), onuitwisbaar (nl)
• Finnish: peruuttamaton (fi), lähtemätön (fi), unohtumaton (fi)
• German: unauslöschlich
• Hungarian: kitörölhetetlen (hu)
• Japanese: 消せない (ja) (kesenai), 忘れられない (wasurerarenai)
• Norwegian: uutslettelig
• Polish: niezatarty
• Portuguese: indelével (pt), inesquecível (pt)
• Russian: неизглади́мый (ru) m (neizgladímyj), незабыва́емый (ru) m (nezabyvájemyj)
• Spanish: indeleble (es)
• Swedish: outplånlig (sv)
• Ukrainian: незабутній m (nezabutnij)

incapable of being annulled

• Dutch: onuitwisbaar (nl)
• Finnish: peruuttamaton (fi)
• Portuguese: indelével (pt), inanulável

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} неизбрисив

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} neizbrisiv (sh)