inviolable

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The Word of the Day for February 8 is:

inviolable   \in-VYE-uh-luh-bul\   adjective
     1 : secure from violation or profanation 
    *2 : secure from assault or trespass : unassailable 

Example sentence: 
     "One can almost see him, grey-haired and serene in the inviolable shelter 
of his book-lined, faded, and comfortable study...." (Joseph Conrad, _Lord 
Jim_) 

Did you know? 
     "Inviolable" is a venerable word that has been with us since the 15th 
century. Its opposite, "violable" ("capable of being or likely to be violated") 
appeared a century later. The English playwright Shackerley Marmion made good 
use of "violable" in _A Fine Companion_ in 1633, writing, "Alas, my heart is 
Tender and violable with the least weapon Sorrow can dart at me." But English 
speakers have never warmed up to that word the way we have to "inviolable," and 
it continues to be used much less frequently. Both terms descend from Latin 
"violare," which both shares the meaning and is an ancestor of the English word 
"violate."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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