implacable

Definition

Not able to be placated or appeased.

Etymology

From Middle English implācāble (“immitigable, unappeasable”) from Old French implacable (“harsh, unrelenting; implacable”) (modern French implacable), from Latin implācābilis (“unappeasable, implacable; irreconcilable”), from im- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + plācābilis (“placable; appeasing, moderating, pacifying, propitiating; acceptable”) (from plācō (“to assuage, pacify, placate; to appease; to reconcile”) + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon)).

Example Sentences

• "He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on carpet conſideration, but he is a diuell in priuate brall, soules and bodies hath he diuorc'd three, and his incenſement at this moment is ſo implacable, that ſatisfaction can be none, but by pangs of death and ſepulcher: Hob, nob, is his word: giu't or take't."
• "[I]n the reign of Henry the Second, a body happening, by chance, to be dug up near Glastonbury Abbey, without any symptoms of putrefaction or decay, the Welch, the descendants of the Ancient Britons, tenacious of the dignity and reputation of that illustrious hero [King Arthur], vainly supposed it could be no other than the body of their justly-boasted Pen-Dragon; and that he had been immured in that sepulchre by the spells of some powerful and implacable inchanter."
• "The battleships Washington and South Dakota pushed through the sea with an implacable ease."