Inevitable

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/

Definitions

1. Something certain to happen and impossible to avoid or prevent
2. An occurrence that cannot be avoided due to its certain nature
3. A situation that will definitely transpire and cannot be circumvented

Etymology: The sense that matters most here is the reverse of the modern one. Latin "inēvītābilis" meant "unavoidable" in the sense of something one could not escape, which is close to today's meaning, but the word was built from a negative and a verb meaning "to avoid," so its whole logic is about getting out of the way. The verb "vītāre" meant "to shun" or "to dodge," and the prefix "ē-" carried the sense of "out," so "ēvītāre" was literally a stepping out of something's path. That verb is the hidden piece of the story. Stacking "in-" onto "ēvītābilis" ("avoidable") produced a word meaning that no amount of dodging would work. The negative has to do all the work, turning a word about escape into one about inescapability. English got the word through Middle French, which had already adopted the Latin form, so the path runs Latin to French to English rather than being a direct Latin import.

Synonyms: unavoidable, certain, inevitable, inexorable, predestined

Antonyms: avoidable, preventable, uncertain, doubtful