Immutable may describe something that is incapable of change, but the word itself—like all words—is mutable, both capable of and prone to alteration. To put a finer point on it, if language were fixed, we wouldn’t have immutable itself, which required a variety of mutations of the Latin verb mutare (“to change”) to reach our tongues (or pens, keyboards, or touchscreens—oh the many permutations of communication!). Other English words that can be traced back to mutare include mutate, transmute, and commute. Which reminds us—the mutability of language makes great food for thought during one’s commute.
the immutable laws of nature
one of the immutable laws of television is that low ratings inevitably lead to cancellation
Recent Examples on the WebKey innovations include the ability for storage administrators to create protection groups for automatic backup and to restore or recover immutable data copies free from threat signatures to multiple locations.—Steve McDowell, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024 Eventually one or the other will have to take precedence, and for the DEI crowd, doing the job well is secondary to immutable characteristics.—Letters To The Editor, Orlando Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2024 Getting labels or classification right is almost impossible unless the data itself and its access list are immutable.—Adam Gavish, Forbes, 12 Feb. 2024 This would offer a transparent, immutable record for legal compliance and dispute resolution, thereby laying the economic foundation for space commerce. - Andres Zunino, ZirconTech
15.—Expert Panel®, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2023 Once a transaction is made, the blockchain remains an immutable record of it.—Isabelle Bousquette, WSJ, 11 Jan. 2024 Advancements in camshaft profiles and electronic timing can help to improve performance at the top of the rev range, but only to an extent limited by immutable thermodynamics.—Michael Teo Van Runkle, Ars Technica, 11 Dec. 2023 Even Morán and Román, determined to cast off conformity and live life on their own terms, have a hard time escaping what feel like immutable, existential laws.—Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2023 So far it has only been seen on the big screen at various festivals and that gloriously immutable institution, the art house cinema.—Spin Staff, SPIN, 13 Dec. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'immutable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Latin immutabilis, from in- + mutabilis mutable
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