ineluctable
adjective (formal)


- impossible to avoid

- not to be avoided, changed, or resisted

Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN



Ineluctable first appeared in English in the 1620s, borrowed from French inéluctable (15th century) or directly from Latin inēluctābilis = "unavoidable, inevitable”: in- = "not, opposite of" (negating prefix), ēluctārī = "to struggle out of, to force one's way out”, luctārī = "to wrestle, to struggle”, -bilis = suffix denoting ability or capacity.

The word has its roots in wrestling, a popular sport in ancient Greece and Rome. The Latin word luctator means "wrestler," and luctari means "to wrestle," as well as "to struggle, strive, or contend”.

So ineluctable literally means: “not to be escaped by struggling" — something you cannot wrestle free from, no matter how hard you fight against it.



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10 FUN FACTS
Demonstrating the ineluctability of human nature:

1. You can't see your ears without a mirror.

2. You can't count your hair.

3. You can't breathe through your nose with your tongue out.

4. You just tried number 3.

6. When you did number 3 you realized that it was possible, only you looked like a dog.

7. You are smiling right now because you were fooled.

8. You skipped number 5.

9. You just checked to see if there is a number 5.

10. Share this with your friends so they breathe like a dog too.

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SYNONYMS

a foregone conclusion, a gravitational pull, a matter of course, all-consuming, an appointment with destiny, apodictic, as sure as death and taxes, beyond escape, beyond human power to prevent, bound to happen, carved in stone, certain, destined, doomed, fatal, fated, fatidic, fixed, foregone conclusion, foreordained, immutable, implacable, indefeasible, INELUCTABLE, ineludible, inescapable, inescapable logic, inevadable, inevitable, inexorable, in the cards, irresistible, locked-in, mathematically certain, necessary, on an unavoidable path, overpowering, path-dependent, predestined, predictable, preordained, relentless, remorseless, set in stone, sure as death and taxes, the die is cast, the inevitable slide, the juggernaut's path, unalterable, unavoidable, unavertable, unbending, unevadable, unpreventable, unshunnable, unstoppable, unyielding, water under the bridge, written in the ledger of time, written in the stars

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SMUGGLE
 OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“It’s scary to realize just how INELUCTABLE we all are.”

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