☼ Concept Map

''inviolable'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260913121849-00-⌔

inviolable - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

inviolable (comparative more inviolable, superlative most inviolable)

  • Not violable; not to be infringed.
    • ✤ Synonyms: unbreakable, unbreachable, infrangible
    • ✤ Antonyms: (incapable of being complied) incompliable, (capable of being violated) violable, (capable of being violated) breakable
    • ✤ But come, for thou, be ſure, ſhalt give account/To him who ſent us, whoſe charge is to keep/This place inviolable, and therefore theſe from harm.1
    • ✤ *But honeſt men’s words are Stygian oaths, and promiſes inviolable. *2
    • ✤ One more request, and I am lost,/If you its earnest prayer deny;/It is, that you preserve the most/Inviolable secrecy/As to my plan.3
    • ✤ “Now, Mr. Jones, having obtained your promise of inviolable secrecy, I come down to the essential point.”4
    • ✤ “As defined by the first founders of Aya, this world and all who live on it agree to abide by the laws, customs, and regulations of a civilized society that has existed for centuries on other worlds. These rules of conduct ensure a voice for each family within our society and gives them certain inviolable rights…”5
  • Not susceptible to violence, or of being profaned, corrupted, or dishonoured.
    • ✤ Synonyms: holy, sacred, sacrosanct; see also Thesaurus: sacrosanct
    • ✤ Antonym: violable
  • Incapable of being injured or invaded; indestructible.
    • ✤ Synonyms: invincible, unassailable
    • ✤ Antonym: invadable

Etymology

From Middle French inviolable, from Latin inviolābilis (“untouchable”), from violō (“violate”). Equivalent to in- +‎ violable. Piecewise doublet of unviolable.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪnˈvaɪələbl̩/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Hyphenation: in‧vi‧o‧la‧ble

Printed 2026-09-13.

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Footnotes

  1. 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a] nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a] nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 842–844: ↩

  2. a. 1682, Sir Thomas Browne, “Christian Morals”, in Henry Gardiner, editor, Religio Medici, together with a Letter to a Friend on the Death of His Intimate Friend and Christian Morals, London: W. Pickering, published 1845, part III, page 337: ↩

  3. 1828, Thomas Castaly, “The Recorder”, in Fanny with Other Poems, page 87: ↩

  4. 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed ‎: ↩

  5. 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Charter Governing Citizens of Aya, Revised, Task: Laws and Customs: ↩