imperscriptibleadj.
/ˌɪmpəˈskrɪptᵻbl/, U.S. /ˌɪmpərˈskrɪptəb(ə)l/ Now somewhat rare .
Not subject to prescription (prescription n.1 2); that cannot be legally taken away; = imprescriptible adj.Frequently in imperscriptible right; cf. quot. 1791 at imprescriptible adj.Often in conjunction with inalienable. N.E.D.'s (1899) definition of this word is apparently unattested: ‘For which no written authority can be adduced; unrecorded.’
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > keeping from publication > [adjective] > not written or recorded
unwritten1362
unsetc1445
unpenned1587
unlettered1633
illiterate1645
unwrit1656
nonscript1657
imperscriptible1791
1791 Fragm. of Prophesy 38 They restrained this right to about five million individuals who could afford to pay half-a-crown a year for this their natural and imperscriptable prerogative.
a1843 R. Southey Doctor (1847) VII. 496 He frequently found cause to exercise the imperscriptible and inalienable right of altering and improving his own work.
1875 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 13 Apr. We must bear in mind that ‘some sort of order’ is not, and can not be, a normal condition of society, living under the imperscriptible mandates of truth.
1905 Converted Catholic Oct. 306/1 The buildings classified as to their purposes by the law of March 30, 1887, or by the present law, shall be inalienable and imperscriptible.
1964 Bluefield (W. Virginia) Daily Tel. 16 May 4/5 To deny an individual to the right to change his party affiliation..and also virtually prohibiting citizens to build a new party involve imperscriptible rights.
2004 tr. W. Filderman Mem. & Diaries I. xxv. 240 The king and his ministers protested..that this was in no way an attempt to strike at the imperscriptable rights of the minorities.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1791