ineluctable
adjective
Did you know?
If you love grappling with language as much as we do, you’re sure to get a (flying) kick out of today’s word. Ineluctable, you see, 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.” With the addition of e- (ex-) luctari became eluctari, meaning “to struggle clear of.” The negating prefix in- then piled on to form ineluctabilis, an adjective describing something that cannot be escaped or avoided. It is ineluctabilis that English speakers borrowed to form ineluctable, a word often used to describe fates that one cannot squirm free from, whether due to something as cosmic as the Fates themselves or as corporeal as a headlock.
Examples of ineluctable in a Sentence
Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2025
The meanings of these images—which speak variously of environmental collapse, policy failure, ineluctable helplessness—do not invite their use as objects of contemplation.
—Teju Cole, The New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2025
That is unfortunate but ineluctable, given the balance on the battlefield and the unwillingness of both the Biden administration and the current one to pour in the military resources that would give Ukraine a chance of defeating Russia.
—Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 13 Feb. 2025
The meanings of these images—which speak variously of environmental collapse, policy failure, ineluctable helplessness—do not invite their use as objects of contemplation.
—Teju Cole, The New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ineluctable
Cite this Entry
“Ineluctable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ineluctable. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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