Incontrollability

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition in which control is non-existent or ineffective is known as uncontrollability
2. The state of being unable to be controlled or restrained
3. A condition marked by the absence of effective regulation or command

Etymology: "Incontrollability" is a plain English build with no dramatic backstory: it is the noun form of the adjective "incontrollable," which combines the prefix "in-" (meaning "not") with "controllable." The base "controllable" comes from "control," borrowed into English from Anglo-French "contreroller," a term for keeping a duplicate account book to check another official's records, and the Anglo-French word itself derives from medieval Latin "contrarotulare," to check against a roll. So the sense of "control" began as the checking of accounts before it broadened to mean power over things. The suffix "-ability" was attached to "incontrollable" to turn the quality into a state or condition, the same pattern found in "reliability" or "sustainability." Because English already had "uncontrollability" as a near-synonym, "incontrollability" is the less common variant, though both are attested in writing from the 19th century onward and are used mainly in formal or technical contexts.