irrefragable
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪˈɹɛfɹəɡəb(ə)l/
ipa: /ˌiɹəˈfɹæɡəb(ə)l/
Forms: form: more irrefragable
form: most irrefragable
form: irrefragible
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Late Latin irrefrāgābilis (“irrefragable”) + English -able (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘able or fit to be done’). Irrefrāgābilis is derived from Latin ir- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + refrāgārī + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon); while refrāgārī is the present active infinitive of refrāgor (“to oppose, resist; to gainsay, thwart”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + fragor (“a breaking, shattering; a crash; din, uproar”) (from frangō (“to break, shatter”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”))), formed as an antonym of suffrāgōr, the first-person singular present passive indicative of suffrāgō (“to support; to vote for”).
Senses: examples: text: Beſide, what methodicall artiſt would allow the encomium of the foxe in the prayſe of the aſſe, unleſſe I would proove by irrefragable demonſtration, that the falſe fox was a true aſſe: as I once heard a learned phyſician affirme, if a gooſe were a fox, he was a fox.
ref: 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 210:
text: He knew what's what, and that's as high / As Metaphysick Wit can fly, / In School Divinity as able / As he that hight Irrefragable; […]
ref: 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 7:
text: In this Kings reign flouriſhed in England, the Irrefragable Doctor Alexander de Hales, who was School-Maſter to the Angelic Dr. Thomas Aquinas.
ref: 1679, [William Howell], “Henry III”, in Medulla Historiæ Anglicanæ. Being a Comprehensive History of the Lives and Reigns of the Monarchs of England, […], London: […] Abel Swalle, […], →OCLC, page 178:
text: This is the way to end the vexatious Queſtions about them [the Kingdom of the Picts], being taken out of the moſt authentick Records of Ireland, which are of ſuch irrefragable Authority, That ſome are perſuaded, had they been known to [William] Camden, he would never have diſputed the matter. And ſo I think too. But this irrefragable Authority is that of the Pſalter of Caſhel; […]
ref: 1685, Ed[ward] Stillingfleet, “Of the Declension of the British Churches”, in Origines Britannicæ, or, The Antiquities of the British Churches. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher for Henry Mortlock, […], →OCLC, page 274:
text: [A]ll the preſent compoſers of French comic operas imitate the Italian ſtyle, […] I wiſh this may not, ſometimes, happen in England; but, however that may be, it is certainly an irrefragable proof of the ſuperiority of that melody which is become the common muſical language of all Europe: […]
ref: 1775, Charles Burney, “Brussels”, in The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] T. Becket, […]; J. Robson, […]; and G. Robinson, […], →OCLC, pages 53–54:
text: Bulfinch, a solicitor at Redcastle, came to him with irrefragable proofs of gross peculation on the part of the bailiff who managed the home farm which supplied the house and stables, and showed him that it was necessary to make a thorough investigation and change of system.
ref: 1885, Charlotte M[ary] Yonge, “Wolf”, in Nuttie’s Father, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 217:
text: [W]e were driven by the circumstances of cold and rainy weather to seek refuge in a saloon, where we had to spend part of our pitiful dole for drink. It will be urged by some critics that we might have gone to the Y. M. C. A., to night school, and to the social circles and homes of young people. The only reply is that we did n't^([sic]). That is the irrefragable fact. We did n't.
ref: 1913 August, Jack London, chapter XIX, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 186:
text: Lionel Trilling has cautioned us that an idea derived from reading is not a unitary, irrefragable thing but something modified in its transmission by the cultural community into which it falls, by the response to the language, by the power of understanding of those who receive it and by their purpose and intentions.
ref: 2001 January 14, Harold Evans, “Bookend: White House Book Club”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2021, section 7, page 31:
text: Senator [Chuck] Grassley. […] In that case [LaChance v. White, 174 F. 3d 1378 (1999)] the Federal Circuit held that a whistleblower had to present irrefragable proof that wrongdoing actually occurred in order to prove a claim. Have you ever heard of the irrefragable proof standard, and what's your understanding of the standard? […] Mr. [Richard Gary] Taranto. The Ampro case [Am-Pro Protective Agency, Inc. v. U.S., 281 F. 3d 1234 (2002)] is explicit in saying that the terminology we have used, sometimes irrefragable proof, sometimes something else, really ought to be treated as the same as clear and convincing evidence.
ref: 2012 February 29, “Nomination of Richard Gary Taranto, Nominee to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit; […]”, in Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session […] Part No. 6 […] (S. Hrg. 112-72, Pt. 6), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 2013, →OCLC, page 699:
synonyms: word: incontestable
word: indubitable
word: unanswerable
word: undeniable
word: unquestionable
word: inarguable
word: incontestable
word: incontrovertible
word: indeniable
word: indisputable
word: indubitable
word: irrebuttable
word: irrecusable
word: irrefragable
word: nondeniable
word: unanswerable
word: unassailable
word: unattackable
word: unchallengeable
word: uncontrovertible
word: undebatable
word: undeniable
word: undiscutable
word: undisputable
word: undoubtable
word: unimpeachable
word: unquestionable
word: unrebuttable
word: unrecusable
word: unshakable
antonyms: contestable
controvertible
deniable
disputable
dubitable
questionable
refragable
refutable
glosses: Which cannot be refuted; clearly right, incontrovertible, indisputable, irrefutable.
examples: text: But this loue of ours is immoderate, inordinate, and not to be comprehended in any bounds. It will not containe it ſelfe within the vnion of marriage, or apply it ſelfe to one obiect, but it is a wandring extravagant, a domineering, a boundleſſe, an irrefragable paſſion: […]
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “How Loue Tyrannizeth ouer Men. Loue or Heroicall Melancholy, His Definition, Part Affected.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 1, subsection 2, page 363:
text: […] Intire Affection (from whence Integrity has its name) as it is anſwerable to it-ſelf, proportionable, and rational; ſo it is irrefragable, ſolid, and durable.
ref: 1699, A.A.C.A.N.A.Æ.C.M.D.C.L.X.X.J. [pseudonym; Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury], “Treatise IV. Viz. an Inquiry Concerning Virtue, or Merit. […]”, in Characteristics, &c. [i.e., Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. […]], volume II, [London: John Darby], published 1711, →OCLC, part II, section I, page 111:
synonyms: inviolable
irresistible
glosses: Which cannot or should not be broken; indestructible.
examples: text: Many young men are as obſtinate, and as curious in their choice, as tyrannically proud, inſulting, deceitfull, falſe hearing, as irrefragable & peeuiſh, Narciſſus like, […]
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “The Last and Best Cure of Loue Melancholy, is, to Let Them Haue Their Desire”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 2, member 5, subsection 5, page 453:
synonyms: word: adamant
word: ardent
word: bent on
word: bloody-minded
word: bullheaded
word: certain
word: chronic
word: confirmed
word: determined
word: diehard
word: dogged
word: hard-hearted
word: hard-nosed
word: hardheaded
word: headstrong
word: immovable
word: incalcitrant
word: inflexible
word: irrefragable
word: insistent
word: intractable
word: intransigent
word: intrepid
word: inveterate
word: mulish
word: obdurate
word: obstinate
word: obstreperous
word: peevish
word: peremptory
word: persistent
word: pertinacious
word: pigheaded
word: recalcitrant
word: refractory
word: resolute
word: resolved
word: rigid
word: self-willed
word: stalwart
word: staunch
word: steadfast
word: steady
word: stubborn
word: stubborn as a mule
word: sullen
word: tenacious
word: terminal
word: thran
word: thwart
word: tough
word: truculent
word: unbending
word: uncompromising
word: unyielding
word: vehement
word: wilful
word: willful
antonyms: word: firm
word: inelastic
word: inflexible
word: rigid
word: stiff
word: unbendable
glosses: Of a person: obstinate, stubborn.
Derived terms: irrefragability
irrefragableness
irrefragably