fallible

adjective fal·li·ble \ ˈfa-lə-bəl \

|Updated on: 12 Jul 2018

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of fallible

1 : liable to be erroneous

a fallible generalization

2 : capable of making a mistake

we're all fallible

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fallibly

play \ˈfa-lə-blē\ adverb

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Recent Examples of fallible from the Web

And because judicial protection of rights becomes less important, our reliance on fallible and often highly ideological judges becomes more limited, and a populist backlash against the judiciary becomes less likely, too.

— eric posner and glen weyl, Vox, "The Supreme Court is an anti-democratic nightmare. Here’s how to fix it.," 29 June 2018
Humans, ever fallible, must practice humility, this logic goes; part of that practice must involve the recognition that even empathy must answer to a higher power.

— megan garber, The Atlantic, "How to Look Away," 20 June 2018
The real test, assuming that all organizations are full of fallible people, especially in positions of authority and power, is the way those people in power deal with their inherent fallibility.

— matt murray, WSJ, "The 10-Point.," 18 June 2018
One night, while driving home after dropping off a vintage car to tech prodigy Eron (Harrison Gilbertson), the technological utopia proves fallible — and fatal.

— katie walsh, Detroit Free Press, "Review: ‘Upgrade’ raises timely fears about technology," 31 May 2018
The trouble is that companies are often poor at assessing nebulous risks, and CEOs’ overall view of the environment is fallible.

— The Economist, "Why corporate America loves Donald Trump," 24 May 2018
Those worried about how facial recognition surveillance may impact their personal privacy may view these flaws as a potential advantage; a fallible system might be easier to hide from.

— lily hay newman, WIRED, "Facial Recognition Tech Is Creepy When It Works—And Creepier When It Doesn’t," 9 May 2018
Yes, all human beings, and certainly all politicians, are in some respects weak and fallible.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "The Democrats Need to Reckon With the Reckoning When Choosing Candidates," 8 May 2018
His failures at the hands of Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock, and the Avengers, revealed him as fallible, able to be beaten by his own self-destructive nature through his inability to feel worthy of love.

— richard newby, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Avengers: Infinity War' Has Delivered the Definitive Thanos," 28 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fallible.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Errare humanum est. That Latin expression translates into English as "To err is human." Of course, cynics might say that it is also human to deceive. The word fallible simultaneously recognizes both of these human character flaws. In modern usage, it refers to one's ability to err, but it descends from the Latin verb fallere, which means "to deceive." Fallible has been used to describe the potential for error since at least the 15th century. Other descendants of the deceptive fallere in English, all of which actually predate fallible, include fallacy (the earliest, now obsolete, meaning was "guile, trickery"), fault, false, and even fail and failure.