Word of the Day

Monday December 14, 2009

implacable [im-PLAK-uh-bull]

adjective

Not placable; not to be appeased; incapable of being pacified; inexorable; as, an implacable enemy.

Even in New York, where large-scale development is always a contentious affair, Atlantic Yards has been a long-running story of a tenacious developer and an equally implacable opposition. The development has been hobbled by a series of disputes ever since it gained state and city approvals in 2006.

Charles V. Bagli, "Atlantic Yards Wins Appeal To Seize Land", New York Times, Nov 25, 2009
She was sustained by a strong faith and was an elder of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, but she never proselytised or imposed. Her implacable goodness was leavened by a sharp realism, and a subtle wit. She had an ineffable charm, and a lightness of touch.

Anonymous, "Mary Anne Schwalbe; Educational organiser who dedicated her life to highlighting the plight of refugees", The Times, Nov 10, 2009
Catiline was prevented from being a candidate in consequence of an impeachment brought against him for mal-administration of his province of Africa by P. Clodius Pulcher, afterwards the implacable enemy of Cicero.

John Henderson First Oration of Cicero Against Catiline

Origin of the Word

Implacable, approximately 1522, derives from Old French implacable, from Latin implacabilis "unappeasable," from in- "not" + placabilis "easily appeased."