UNALTERABLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does unalterable mean? 

• UNALTERABLE (adjective)
  The adjective UNALTERABLE has 3 senses:

1. not capable of being changed or altered

2. of a sentence; that cannot be changed

3. remaining the same for indefinitely long times

  Familiarity information: UNALTERABLE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNALTERABLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not capable of being changed or altered

Synonyms:

inalterable; unalterable

Context example:

an unalterable ground rule

Similar:

incurable (unalterable in disposition or habits)

final; last (not to be altered or undone)

Antonym:

alterable (capable of being changed or altered in some characteristic)

Derivation:

unalterability (the quality of being fixed and unchangeable)

unalterability (the quality of not being alterable)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of a sentence; that cannot be changed

Context example:

an unalterable death sentence

Similar:

incommutable (not subject to alteration or change)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Remaining the same for indefinitely long times

Synonyms:

changeless; unalterable

Similar:

unchangeable (not changeable or subject to change)

Derivation:

unalterability (the quality of being fixed and unchangeable)

unalterability (the quality of not being alterable)

 Context examples 

I have not time or patience to give half Henry's messages; be satisfied that the spirit of each and every one is unalterable affection.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It crushed them with the weight of unending vastness and unalterable decree.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Of course, he smiled darkly at their delusion, but passed it by with the sad superiority of one who knew that his fidelity like his love was unalterable.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

If Mr. Copperfield should yet remember one unknown to fame, will Mr. T. take charge of my unalterable regards and similar entreaties?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I had been the author of unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I had created should perpetrate some new wickedness.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“I know you have it in for me,” Johnson continued with his unalterable and ponderous slowness. “You do not like me. You—you—”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The letter shall certainly be burnt, if you believe it essential to the preservation of my regard; but, though we have both reason to think my opinions not entirely unalterable, they are not, I hope, quite so easily changed as that implies.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

To prevent waste of your valuable time, gentlemen, I may say, once for all, that it is my unalterable determination that no fight shall, under any circumstances, be brought off in the county over which I have control, and I am prepared to follow you all day in order to prevent it.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She saw that he saw Elizabeth, that Elizabeth saw him, that there was complete internal recognition on each side; she was convinced that he was ready to be acknowledged as an acquaintance, expecting it, and she had the pain of seeing her sister turn away with unalterable coldness.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

You seem to doubt me; I don't doubt myself: I know what my aim is, what my motives are; and at this moment I pass a law, unalterable as that of the Medes and Persians, that both are right.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)