Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Without grammatical inflection.
- adjective Of or being a word that lacks grammatical inflection though belonging to a form class whose members are usually inflected.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In grammar, not declinable; not varied by declension; showing no variety of form for case, number, or the like.
- noun In grammar, a word that is not declined.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Gram.) Not declinable; not varied by inflective terminations.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective grammar, of a word not
grammatically inflected , especially if others of its class are usually inflected - noun grammar A word that is not grammatically inflected.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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By 1794, writers of scientific Latin, perhaps fed up with the non-Latin sound of gas as an indeclinable, had changed to gas, - is, a noun of the third declension.
The Vatican’s Dictionary of Recent Latinity « The Half-Baked Maker 2010
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In politics, reform is an indeclinable and urgent task to bring about changes in legislation so that our young democracy can move forward, strengthen the direction taken by political parties and fine-tune our institutions, restoring values and providing more transparency in all types of public activity.
Dilma Rousseff Inauguration Speech: Brazil's First Female President Addresses Congress In Brasilia (FULL TEXT) Adam J. Rose 2011
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A statement was put forward on Vicipaedia for gas, indeclinable, as the Latin term, because the located scientific usages of the term in Latin texts (from 1652, which even gives the etymology) are just that.
The Vatican’s Dictionary of Recent Latinity « The Half-Baked Maker 2010
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Actually, Jesus is indeclinable, so the plural would be Jesus.
Neanderthal/human interbreeding - the old-earth response - The Panda's Thumb 2010
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Actually, Jesus is indeclinable, so the plural would be Jesus.
Neanderthal/human interbreeding - the old-earth response - The Panda's Thumb 2010
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Hillbilly, the word for seven in Latin, septem, is indeclinable, so you can't use sevi to say multiple sevens.
Breaking the Duck: Coming to Terms with Cycling BikeSnobNYC 2010
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The adjective is here put in the ablative, to denote the place where, and in the neuter gender, _humi_ being regarded as indeclinable.
C. Sallusti Crispi De Bello Catilinario Et Jugurthino 86 BC-34? BC Sallust
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Mīlle is regularly an adjective in the Singular, and indeclinable.
New Latin Grammar Charles E. Bennett
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A very few indeclinable adjectives occur, the chief of which are frūgī,
New Latin Grammar Charles E. Bennett
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In the second line saraddham is not an indeclinable; or, if it be taken as such, the sense may still remain unaltered.
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 Kisari Mohan [Translator] Ganguli
1357561167 commented on the word indeclinable
The current definitions and examples for indeclinable do not really help me to use or understand the word. I had to google it to find a better example.
It seems relegated to grammatical jargon, since undeclinable better captures the description of things other than words that may not be declined.
It seems that the grammarians and linguists have taken ownership of declinable and indeclinable. The definitions in Wordnik for declinable does not even capture the meaning that is given in the example. To correct this should be an undeclinable challenge.
March 4, 2010