释义 |
immutable, a.|ɪˈmjuːtəb(ə)l| Also 5 in-. [ad. L. immūtabil-is, f. im- (im-2) + mūtābilis mutable. (Also in 15–16th c. F.)] 1. Not mutable; not subject to or susceptible of change; unchangeable, unalterable, changeless.
1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xvi, He was..Perseuerant and of will immutable. 14..Circumcision in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 97 Sothfast kyng whos regne is inmutabull. 1526Tindale Heb. vi. 18 By two immutable thynges (in which it was vnpossible that god shulde lye). 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. xv. 79 The Lawes of Nature are Immutable and Eternall. 1710Prideaux Orig. Tithes iv. 170 This grant shall remain firm, and immutable. 1821J. Q. Adams in C. Davies' Metr. Syst. iii. (1871) 131 To find..some immutable standard of linear measure. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 42 We speak of eternal and immutable justice, but not of eternal and immutable pleasure. b. techn. Not subject to variation in different cases; invariable: used e.g. of markings which are the same in all the individuals of a species.
1621Heylin Microcosmus 2 The greater circles are either Immutable as the æquator, [or] Mutable as the Meridian, Horizon. 1706Phillips, Immutable Circlis..are the same to all the Inhabitants of the Earth. 1796H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 73 Nature bestows on every being that which is adapted to it..according to the Latitude for which it is destined... Some of these adaptations are..immutable, and others variable. ¶2. [im-1.] = mutable: cf. immute v. Obs.
1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 867 If salvation were by us to be gotten, then we are so immutable that we should every minute of an houre, cast away ourselves. Hence iˈmmutableness, the quality of being immutable, immutability.
1610Donne Pseudo-Martyr xi. 345 In power of binding, and all validities, except immutablenesse..equall to Diuine. a1687H. More Conject. Cabbal., Def. (1712) App. viii. 184 The steddiness and immutableness of the Matter. |