immutable

adjective im·mu·ta·ble \ (ˌ)i(m)-ˈmyü-tə-bəl \

Definition of immutable

:not capable of or susceptible to change

—

immutability

play \(ˌ)i(m)-ˌmyü-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

—

immutableness

play \(ˌ)i(m)-ˈmyü-tə-bəl-nəs\ noun

—

immutably

play \(ˌ)i(m)-ˈmyü-tə-blē\ adverb

See immutable defined for English-language learners

See immutable defined for kids

immutable was our Word of the Day on 01/09/2017. Hear the podcast!

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 of immutable from the Web

The Democratic Party’s woes are basic symptoms of the failure to understand that immutable reality.

— james hohmann, Washington Post, "The Daily 202: Congress will have 12 working days to prevent a debt default and keep the government open.," 11 Aug. 2017
Russell and Brooks agree, saying that these early efforts, which few expect to be complete or even immutable, will drive further research and questions as more becomes known and unclassified about the wars.

— adin dobkin, The Atlantic, "The Roadblocks to Writing the History of Modern War," 14 June 2017
Immigration and asylum policies are not immutable, and there are ways to offer safe passage to those fleeing persecution in Chechnya, if only there was the political will.

— amy mackinnon, CNN, "America, don't abandon gay Chechens," 4 June 2017
The current FBI Director is an articulate and persuasive speaker about leadership and the immutable principles of the Department of Justice.

— aaron blake, Washington Post, "The Justice Department’s case against James B. Comey, annotated," 9 May 2017
Immutable buckets could be used for data such as X-rays that a medical center needs to keep for a long time, Friend said.

— stephen lawson, PCWorld, "How to size up a new cloud service like low-priced Wasabi," 3 May 2017
Certain policies would change with each election, of course, but our rights, the fundamental tenets of our democracy, were immutable, eternally true.

— steven levenson, New York Times, "Steven Levenson: The First Time I Attended a Political Protest," 14 Mar. 2017
The alternative is to take the low-growth world we’ve been living in as an immutable fact of life, and get used to it.

— neil irwin, New York Times, "The Big Question for the U.S. Economy: How Much Room Is There to Grow?," 24 Feb. 2017
EVEN THE MOST laundry-illiterate guy understands one immutable law: Never, ever machine-wash a suit, especially not one from a Milanese shop or a Savile Row tailor.

— michael b. dougherty, WSJ, "A Washable Suit With High-End Cred," 11 Jan. 2017

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.

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."