adjective / noun
incurable
in-KYOOR-uh-bul/ɪnˈkjʊrəbl/
Unable to be cured or remedied.
Her condition is incurable, but treatment helps manage the symptoms.
Etymology
The negative prefix denies the possibility of a cure: something incurable is beyond medicine’s power to heal. Applied to a fault or condition more broadly, it means that no lasting correction is possible.
In context
for samaria's plague is incurable it has spread to Judah it has reached the very gate of my people even to Jerusalem itself
More examples
- She calls herself an incurable optimist, even when plans fail.
- Doctors once dismissed some treatable illnesses as incurable.
- The hospital's oldest records refer to some patients as incurables.
Forms
incurable · incurables
incurably adverb — In a way that defies cure.
incurability noun — The state of being beyond cure.
Similar words
- untreatable
- Cannot be treated, while incurable conditions may still be managed.
- irremediable
- Cannot be corrected or repaired, especially problems or harm.