infallible

infallible
infallible, inerrable, inerrant, unerring are comparable when they mean incapable, or manifesting incapability, of making mistakes or errors.
Infallible occurs in this narrow sense chiefly in reference to something (as a person, institution, or book) that is accepted as the divinely inspired medium for the revelation of moral or spiritual truth
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the pope is held by Roman Catholics to be infallible only when he speaks ex cathedra and defines a doctrine or a rule of morals held by the church

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believed in an infallible Bible— Sweet

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no mathematician is infallible; he may make mistakes; but he must not hedge— Eddington

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Inerrable and inerrant are erudite synonyms of infallible and may be preferable to the latter when it is desired to avoid connotations associated with the notion of papal infallibility
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decision from the inerrable and requisite conditions of sense— Browne

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not an inerrable text—Gladstone

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but inerrant may imply not so much the incapacity for making mistakes or errors as the fact of their absence
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an inerrant account of the battle

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the Church was ubiquitous, omniscient, theoretically inerrant and omnicompetent— Coulton

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the inerrant literary sense which gave us the Prayer Book Collects— Sperry

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Unerring implies inerrancy, but it stresses reliability, sureness, exactness, or accuracy (as of aim or observation)
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a marksman of unerring aim

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an unerring eye for fleeting expression of the moral features of character— J. R. Lowell

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a man is infallible, whose words are always true; a rule is infallible, if it is unerring in all its possible applications— Newman

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a man's language is an unerring index of his nature— Binyon

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Analogous words: *certain, inevitable, necessary: impeccable, flawless, faultless
Antonyms: fallible
Contrasted words: questionable, dubious, *doubtful

New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.

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  • Infallible — In*fal li*ble, a. [Pref. in not + fallible: cf. F. infallible.] [1913 Webster] 1. Not fallible; not capable of erring; entirely exempt from liability to mistake; unerring; inerrable. Dryden. [1913 Webster] 2. Not liable to fail, deceive, or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Infallible — Album par Hangar Sortie 2009 (Brésil) 2010 (reste du monde) Enregistrement en 2009 Durée 53 min 19 s Genre Heavy metal …   Wikipédia en Français

  • infallible — [in fal′ə bəl] adj. [ML infallibilis: see IN 2 & FALLIBLE] 1. incapable of error; never wrong 2. not liable to fail, go wrong, make a mistake, etc.; dependable; reliable; sure 3. R.C.Ch. incapable of error in setting forth doctrine on faith and… …   English World dictionary

  • infallible — I adjective assured, certus, continuing, defectless, dependable, enduring, errorless, everlasting, exhaustless, faithful, faultless, flawless, foolproof, free from imperfection, free from mistake, haud dubius, imperishable, incapable of error,… …   Law dictionary

  • infallible — early 15c., from M.L. infallibilis, from in not, opposite of (see IN (Cf. in ) (1)) + L.L. fallibilis (see FALLIBLE (Cf. fallible)). In reference to Popes, attested from 1870. Related: Infallibly …   Etymology dictionary

  • infallible — [adj] unerring, dependable acceptable, accurate, agreeable, apodictic, authoritative, certain, correct, effective, effectual, efficacious, efficient, exact, faultless, flawless, foolproof, handy, helpful, impeccable, incontrovertible, inerrable,… …   New thesaurus

  • infallible — ► ADJECTIVE 1) incapable of making mistakes or being wrong. 2) never failing; always effective. DERIVATIVES infallibility noun infallibly adverb …   English terms dictionary

  • infallible — infallibility, infallibleness, n. infallibly, adv. /in fal euh beuhl/, adj. 1. absolutely trustworthy or sure: an infallible rule. 2. unfailing in effectiveness or operation; certain: an infallible remedy. 3. not fallible; exempt from liability… …   Universalium

  • infallible — in|fal|li|ble [ınˈfælıbəl] adj 1.) always right and never making mistakes ≠ ↑fallible ▪ No expert is infallible. ▪ an infallible memory 2.) something that is infallible always works or has the intended effect ▪ He had an infallible cure for a… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • infallible — adjective 1 always right and never making mistakes: I m only human, I m not infallible. | an infallible memory 2 something that is infallible always works or has the intended effect: He had an infallible cure for a hangover. infallibly adverb… …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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