Wednesday, October 8, 2008

implacable

implacable \im-PLAK-uh-bull\, adjective:

Not placable; not to be appeased; incapable of being pacified; inexorable; as, an implacable foe.

For it is my office to prosecute the guilty with implacable zeal.
-- Paola Capriolo, Floria Tosca (translated by Liz Heron)
He... then continued on up the road, his shoulders bent beneath the implacable sun.
-- Arturo PĂ©rez-Reverte, The Fencing Master
She conducted her life and her work with all the steady and implacable seriousness of a steamroller.
-- "The Stein Salon Was The First Museum of Modern Art", New York Times, December 1, 1968

Implacable ultimately comes from Latin implacabilis, from in-, not + placabilis, placable, from placo, placare, to soothe, calm, appease.

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