Word of the Day

: August 4, 2015

infrangible

adjective in-FRAN-juh-bul

What It Means

1 : not capable of being broken or separated into parts

2 : not to be infringed or violated

infrangible in Context

He declared firmly that he lived his life by a set of infrangible ethical principles.

"[James Bond] is content enough with his new freedom on the fringe to make it a permanent lifestyle, but it's his infrangible sense of duty to country and M that brings him back to the fold when both are threatened." - Kirk Baird, Toledo (Ohio) Blade, November 9, 2012

Did You Know?

Infrangible comes to us via Middle French from the Late Latin infrangibilis, and it is ultimately derived from the prefix in- and the Latin verb frangere, meaning "to break." (Believe it or not, our break is ultimately derived from the same ancient word that gave rise to frangere.) Infrangible first appeared in print in English in the 16th century with the literal meaning "impossible to break"; it was later extended metaphorically to things that cannot or should not be broken.