incurableadj.n.
/ɪnˈkjʊərəb(ə)l/ A. adj.
1. That cannot be cured; incapable of being healed by medicine or medical skill.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > [adjective] > able to be healed or cured > that cannot be cured
incurablea1340
recurelessc1425
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > characteristics > [adjective] > incurable
incurablea1340
unhealablea1382
uncurable1382
unmedicinable1575
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter Cant. 520 Venym of snakis incurabil.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Macc. ix. 5 But the Lord God of Yrael..smote hym with a wound incurable.
c1386 G. Chaucer Monk's Tale 610 God..him..smoot With invisible wounde, ay incurable.
1480 W. Caxton Chron. Eng. cci. 183 The mormal..be hald Incurable.
1533 T. More Apol. xii, in Wks. 870/2 For healthe of the whole bodye, cutte and cast of the incurable cancred partes therefro.
1715 R. Nelson Addr. Persons of Quality 210 We have not, for instance, a Hospital for the Incurable.
1846 R. C. Trench Notes Miracles x. 213 The disease..was incurable by the art and skill of man.
2. transferred and figurative. Not admitting of remedy, correction, or reformation.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [adjective] > of events, actions, etc.
unbootlyc1225
uncurablea1340
bootlessa1375
incurable1377
unremediablea1382
irreparablea1420
irrecuperable1430
unrecuperable?a1439
unrecoverable1461
unrecurable1465
remedilessa1513
remedeless1523
unrecompensablea1530
inemendable1532
immedicable1533
irrecoverablec1540
insanable1547
irremediable1547
irrecurable1548
unredeemable1551
cureless1557
unreparable1568
unrepairable1576
unmendable1584
unrelievablea1586
remedless1590
recurelessa1592
irrepairable1594
unrecovered1598
irremediless1602
unredressable1607
unsalvable1624
unrallied1651
reliefless1677
irrelievable1797
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [adjective] > of persons: beyond cure or remedy
remedilessa1500
unrecurable1597
insanable1657
irrecoverable1708
unredeemable1813
reliefless1852
incurable1879
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xiii. 13 How þat lewed men ben ladde..Þorugh vnkonnynge curatoures to incurable peynes.
1560 Jewel Serm. bef. Queen, Ps. lxix. 9 That yet before the faulte be incurable, there may be some redresse.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) v. i. 16 Present medcine must be ministred, Or ouerthrow incureable ensues. View more context for this quotation
1665 J. Glanvill Sciri Tuum: Authors Defense Let. Aristotle 82 in Scepsis Scientifica The Transcripts were full of errour and incurable defects.
1725 G. Berkeley Proposal in Wks. (1871) III. 226 Ignorance is not so incurable as error.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. xx. 386 The faults of James's head and heart were incurable.
1879 R. Jefferies Wild Life x. 203 Wasps are incurable drunkards.
B. n.
A person suffering from an incurable disease. Usually in plural.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > sick person > [noun] > incurable
incurable1652
1652 J. Howell tr. A. Giraffi Exact Hist. Late Revol. Naples (new ed.) ii. 131 They burnt the Monastery of Santa Maria, together with the Hospital of the Incurables.
a1745 J. Swift in Wks. XIII. 150 If idiots and lunaticks cannot be found, incurables may be taken into the hospital.
1751 S. Whatley England's Gazetteer at Southwark [Guy's Hospital] is said to be for incurables, i.e. for such as are turned out of other hosps. for any ailments that are incurable (except lunacy).
1766 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 1 Aug. (1932) (modernized text) VI. 2752 To withdraw, in the fulness of his power..from the House of Commons..and to go into that Hospital of Incurables, the House of Lords.
1816 R. Southey in Q. Rev. 14 353 To leave a country which, like a lunatic hospital, contained only fools and incurables.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.a1340