fallible

English

Etymology

From Middle English fallible, from Medieval Latin fallibilis (“liable to err, also deceitful”), from Latin fallere (“to deceive”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfal.ɪ.bəl/, [ˈfal.ɪ.bl̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (GB):

    (file)

• (US, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈfæl.ə.bəl/, [ˈfæl.ə.bl̩]

Adjective

fallible (comparative more fallible, superlative most fallible)

1. Capable of making mistakes or being wrong.

Synonyms

• defective
• faulty
• faultful
• imperfect

Antonyms

• perfect
• infallible

Derived terms

• fallibleness
• fallibly
• nonfallible
• unfallible

Related terms

• fail
• fallacious
• fallacy
• fallibilism
• fallibilist
• fallibility

Translations

capable of making mistakes or being wrong

Belarusian: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: склонен да греши (sklonen da greši) Catalan: fal·lible (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 殘缺的 / 残缺的 (zh) (cánquē de) Czech: omylný m Finnish: erehtyväinen (fi) French: faillible (fr) Galician: falible (gl), falíbel (gl) German: fehlbar (de) Italian: fallibile Kyrgyz: жаңылышкан (ky) (jaŋılışkan) Plautdietsch: fälboa Polish: omylny m Portuguese: falível Russian: подверженный ошибкам (podveržennyj ošibkam), (somewhat) ненадёжный (ru) (nenadjóžnyj), (technology) подверженный отказам (podveržennyj otkazam), (somewhat) оши́бочный (ru) (ošíbočnyj) Spanish: falible (es)

Further reading

• “fallible”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “fallible”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “fallible”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• fillable