insusceptible

IPA/ˌɪn.səˈsep.tə.bəl/
IPA/ˌɪn.səˈsep.tə.bəl/

insusceptible — adjective

  • insusceptiblepositive
  • more insusceptiblecomparative
  • most insusceptiblesuperlative

1. unable to be changed, influenced, or harmed by something, regardless of how much

1.adjectiveC1
Definition

unable to be changed, influenced, or harmed by something, regardless of how much pressure or effort is applied

Example

Noa seemed insusceptible to the constant pressure from her classmates to skip class.

pattern: insusceptible to + noun phrase

The old stone walls were insusceptible to the heavy rain that flooded the streets outside.

Common collocations
  • insusceptible to pressure
  • insusceptible to arguments
  • insusceptible to disease
  • insusceptible to change
  • insusceptible to influence
Synonyms
  • immune

    complete protection, often biological or legal

  • resistant

    active opposition to influence or damage

  • impervious

    impossible to penetrate or affect

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

insusceptible to + noun

Usage Note

Typically followed by to + noun phrase. Common in formal writing, academic texts, and medical contexts to describe resistance or immunity.

Common Mistakes

He is insusceptible of cold weather.
He is insusceptible to cold weather.
sense 1 uses to, not of.

2. used of an idea, claim, or theory that is too obscure or indefinite to be unders

2.adjectiveC2
Definition

used of an idea, claim, or theory that is too obscure or indefinite to be understood, demonstrated, or explained through any standard method

Example

The philosopher claimed that certain moral truths are insusceptible of rational proof.

pattern: insusceptible of + abstract noun

Nora's mystical poem seemed insusceptible of any single interpretation, even by literary experts.

Common collocations
  • insusceptible of proof
  • insusceptible of explanation
  • insusceptible of definition
  • insusceptible of interpretation
  • insusceptible of verification
Synonyms
Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

insusceptible of + noun

Usage Note

Followed by of + noun (e.g., insusceptible of proof), NOT to. This sense only applies to ideas, statements, theories, or concepts — never to people or physical objects. Distinguish from sense 1 by checking the preposition: to means resistant to influence; of means cannot be understood or proven.

Common Mistakes

The disease is insusceptible of treatment.
The disease is insusceptible to treatment.
Use insusceptible to for physical resistance; use insusceptible of for abstract ideas that cannot be proven or understood.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Immune, resistant, and impervious all describe a lack of susceptibility, but with different nuances. Immune suggests complete, built-in protection — often biological or legal — and is the strongest term ("The diplomat was immune from prosecution"). Resistant implies active opposition or a capacity to withstand, commonly used for materials or organisms ("The coating is resistant to scratches"). Impervious stresses that nothing can get through at all, whether physically (impervious to water) or emotionally (impervious to criticism). Insusceptible is the most formal and least common of the four; it often appears in academic or medical writing where a neutral, precise description of non-susceptibility is needed, without the biological implication of immune or the physical metaphor of impervious.

immune ↗resistant ↗impervious ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • remarkably insusceptible
  • completely insusceptible
  • apparently insusceptible

Phrases

  • insusceptible to change
  • insusceptible of proof

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

From Latin insusceptibilis, formed by combining the prefix in- ("not") with susceptibilis ("capable of receiving" or "susceptible"). Susceptibilis itself comes from suscipere ("to take up, accept, receive"), from sub- ("up from under") + capere ("to take"). The word entered English in the 17th century through scholarly and philosophical writing, retaining its formal tone to the present day.

First known use

1603

1603, in the meaning defined above