CS Knowledge Base

From in- + variable. Piecewise doublet of unvariable.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛɹ.i.ə.bl̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛə.ɹi.ə.bl̩/
• (Texas, possibly obsolete) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvɛɚbl̩/^[1]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧va‧ri‧able

invariable (not comparable)

1. Not variable; unalterable; uniform; always having the same value.
   • 1860, Isaac Taylor, Ultimate Civilisation:

     Physical laws which are invariable.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action.

   • 1957 October, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 714:

     The rebuilt "Merchant Navy" Pacifics have the monopoly of these workings, and Mr. C. K. Dunkley writes that as a result of their reduced water consumption, as compared with the unrebuilt engines, some engine-crews no longer spend time taking water at Southampton Central, the invariable practice previously.

2. (mathematics) Constant.
3. (by extension, grammar, of a word, or a grammatical class) That cannot undergo inflection, conjugation or declension.

   Synonym: uninflectable

   Hyponyms: indeclinable, inconjugable

   The French adjective marron ‘brown’ is invariable: it does not take the usual s in the plural.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:invariable.

invariable (plural invariables)

1. Something that does not vary; a constant.

• invariant

From in- +‎ variable.

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [im.bə.ɾiˈab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [iɱ.və.ɾiˈab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [iɱ.va.ɾiˈa.ble]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [im.ba.ɾiˈab.ble]

• Audio (Barcelona):

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invariable m or f (masculine and feminine plural invariables)

1. invariable

• invariablement

• “invariable”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “invariable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “invariable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “invariable”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

From in- +‎ variable.

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.va.ʁjabl/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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invariable (plural invariables)

1. invariable

• invariablement

• “invariable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

From in- + variable.

• IPA^(key): /imbaˈɾjable/ [ĩm.baˈɾja.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: in‧va‧ria‧ble

invariable m or f (masculine and feminine plural invariables)

1. invariable

• “invariable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025