different between inevitable vs intellectual

English

Etymology

From Middle French inevitable, from Latin in?v?t?bilis (“unavoidable”), from in- + ?v?t?bilis (“avoidable”), from ?v?t?re (“to avoid”), from ?- (“out”) + v?t?re (“to shun”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n??v?t?b?l/

Adjective

inevitable (not comparable)

1. Impossible to avoid or prevent.
2. Predictable, or always happening.
   • 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl

     This horse and rider, with their free, rhythmical gallop, were the only moving things to be seen on the face of the flat country. They seemed, in the last sad light of evening, not to be there accidentally, but as an inevitable detail of the landscape.

Usage notes

Largely synonymous with unavoidable, slightly more formal (borrowed as a unit from Latin, rather than formed in English), and with nuances of a natural consequence that occurs after – “inevitable punishment”, “inevitable result”. By contrast, unavoidable has some nuance of existing circumstances – “I was unavoidably detained.” – without there necessarily being a cause.

Further, unavoidable has nuances of “could not have happened any other way, even if circumstances were different”, while inevitable connotes “given circumstances, this is the necessary result.” Compare “the disaster was inevitable”, meaning “sooner or later the disaster would happen (because they did not prepare)” with “the disaster was unavoidable”, meaning “even if they had prepared, the disaster would have happened”.

Often used with a negative connotation, but may be used with a positive or neutral sense of fate, as in “Given our preparations, our victory was inevitable.” in which case *unavoidable is not acceptable.

In the same manner, impreventable and inevitable have different nuances. The sense “the disease was inevitable” means “It was natural to suffer the disease”; the sense “the disease was impreventable” means “There were no preventive methods against the disease”.

Thus, "inevitable" indicates "unable to avoid due to natural or necessary matters", "unavoidable" indicates "unable to avoid due to incidental matters", impreventable indicates "unable to avoid due to the absence of preventive methods".

Synonyms

• (impossible to avoid): inescapable, unavoidable, impreventable; See also Thesaurus:inevitable
• (naturally impossible to avoid): natural, necessary
• (always happening): certain, necessary

Antonyms

• (impossible to avoid): evitable, escapable, avoidable, preventable; See also Thesaurus:avoidable
• (always happening): impossible, incidental; See also Thesaurus:circumstantial

Derived terms

• inevitability
• inevitably
• inevitableness

Translations

Noun

inevitable (plural inevitables)

1. Something that is predictable, necessary, or cannot be avoided.

Antonyms

• evitable
• impossible

References

• inevitable/unavoidable, WordReference.com

Further reading

• inevitable in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• inevitable in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• inevitable at OneLook Dictionary Search

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin in?v?t?bilis.

Adjective

inevitable (epicene, plural inevitables)

1. inevitable

Related terms

• evitar

Catalan

Etymology

in- +? evitable

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /i.n?.vi?ta.bl?/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /i.n?.bi?ta.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /i.ne.vi?ta.ble/
• Rhymes: -a?le

Adjective

inevitable (masculine and feminine plural inevitables)

1. inevitable

Derived terms

• inevitablement

Galician

Alternative forms

• inevitábel

Etymology

From Latin in?v?t?bilis.

Adjective

inevitable m or f (plural inevitables)

1. inevitable

Antonyms

• evitable

Derived terms

• inevitablemente

Middle French

Adjective

inevitable m or f (plural inevitables)

1. inevitable; unavoidable

Descendants

• French: inévitable

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin in?v?t?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /inebi?table/, [i.ne.??i?t?a.??le]

Adjective

inevitable (plural inevitables)

1. inevitable, inescapable, unavoidable (unable to be avoided)

   Antonym: evitable

Derived terms

• inevitablemente

Related terms

• evitar

English

Alternative forms

• intellectuall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French intellectuel, from Latin intellectualis

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nt??l?k(t)???l/

Adjective

intellectual (comparative more intellectual, superlative most intellectual)

1. Pertaining to, or performed by, the intellect; mental or cognitive.
   • 1920, Harold Monro, Preface to s:The year's at the spring; an anthology of recent poetry

     Pleasure is various, but it cannot exist where the emotions or the imagination have not been powerfully stirred. Whether it be called sensual or intellectual, pleasure cannot be willed

2. Endowed with intellect; having a keen sense of understanding; having the capacity for higher forms of knowledge or thought; characterized by intelligence or cleverness
   • 1894, Edgar Wilson Nye, Nye's History of the USA Chapter 30

     The Fenimore Cooper Indian is no doubt a brave and highly intellectual person, educated abroad, refined and cultivated by foreign travel, graceful in the grub dance or scalp walk-around, yet tender-hearted as a girl, walking by night fifty-seven miles in a single evening to warn his white friends of danger.

3. Suitable for exercising one's intellect; perceived by the intellect
   • 1916, Joseph McCabe, The Tyranny of Shams Chapter IX

   • A good deal of nonsense is written about sport and entertainment. Many of us can, with pleasant ease, suspend a severely intellectual task for a few hours to witness a first-class football match.

4. Relating to the understanding; treating of the mind.

5. (archaic, poetic) Spiritual.
   • 1805, William Wordsworth, The Prelude, Book II, lines 331-334 (eds. Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams, & Stephen Gill, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 1979):

     I deem not profitless those fleeting moods / Of shadowy exultation; not for this, / That they are kindred to our purer mind / And intellectual life […]

Antonyms

• nonintellectual

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

intellectual (plural intellectuals)

1. An intelligent, learned person, especially one who discourses about learned matters.

   Synonym: highbrow

   Coordinate terms: egghead, nerd, geek

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, pp. 20–21:

     ‘You know I hate intellectuals.’
     ‘You mean you hate people who are cleverer than you are.’
     ‘Yes. I suppose that's why I like you so much, Tom.’

2. (archaic) The intellect or understanding; mental powers or faculties.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, 1650, Book I, Chapter 1, p. 2,^[1]

     […] although their intellectuals had not failed in the theory of truth, yet did the inservient and brutall faculties control the suggestion of reason […]

Derived terms

• public intellectual

Translations

See also

• intelligentsia

References

• intellectual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• "intellectual" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 169.