Definition of IMMUTABLE

Other words from immutable

immutability \(ˌ)i(m)-ˌmyü-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē

\ noun

immutableness \(ˌ)i(m)-ˈmyü-tə-bəl-nəs

\ noun

immutably \(ˌ)i(m)-ˈmyü-tə-blē

\ adverb

Did You Know?

Immutable comes to us through Middle English from Latin immutabilis, meaning "unable to change." "Immutabilis" was formed by combining the negative prefix in- with "mutabilis," which comes from the Latin verb mutare and means "to change." Some other English words that can be traced back to "mutare" are "commute" (the earliest sense of which is simply "to change or alter"), "mutate" ("to undergo significant and basic alteration"), "permute" ("to change the order or arrangement of"), and "transmute" ("to change or alter in form, appearance, or nature"). There's also the antonym of "immutable" - "mutable" - which of course can mean "prone to change" and "capable of change or of being changed."

Examples of immutable in a Sentence

the immutable laws of nature one of the immutable laws of television is that low ratings inevitably lead to cancellation

Recent Examples on the Web

England and Croatia are teams that innovated over time but have generally been immutable during the World Cup, sticking to virtually identical starting lineups except for group phase finales, after advancement was secure. — Ronald Blum, BostonGlobe.com, "England ready to change the tune of its soccer history," 11 July 2018 This study implies that nature and nurture are not as independent as may have been been imagined, and that nature is not as immutable as once thought. — Robert Martone, Scientific American, "Early Life Experience: It’s in Your DNA," 10 July 2018 Both groups are striving to locate something fundamental and immutable about Britain in an era of erosion and evanescence. — The Economist, "Brexit is reverberating in British literature," 5 July 2018 Previous releases had largely been immutable, with players resetting games to their starting states every time they were played, like the orderly arrangement of pieces on a chess board. — Owen Duffy, Ars Technica, "Charterstone: Hot new “legacy” boardgame takes time to find its way," 28 Apr. 2018 The dogged and bizarre refusal of past immigration courts to consider gender, an immutable characteristic that was the reason for certain sorts of persecution, seemed a vestige of a pre-feminist era. — Rafia Zakaria, The New Republic, "On Sending Women Home to Die," 18 June 2018 Being traumatized means continuing to organize your life as if the trauma were still going on — unchanged and immutable — as every new encounter or event is contaminated by the past. — Caroline Catlin, Longreads, "My Abuser’s Gender Made Me Doubt My Experience," 27 Feb. 2018 The 76-year-old singer was still exploring his songbook for new meanings, treating it not as an immutable canon but a road map to who knows where. — Greg Kot, chicagotribune.com, "Paul Simon still searching after all these years," 7 June 2018 There are also some fundamental challenges to the blockchain structure with the immutable ledger. — Polina Marinova, Fortune, "Founders Fund Partner Talks Privacy, Facebook, and His Time at Peter Thiel’s Secretive Data Company," 6 June 2018

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