Word: infallible (adjective)

Associations

The word "infallible" means something or someone that never makes mistakes or is always right.

• A doctor with infallible knowledge would never give wrong advice. This means the doctor is always correct.
• A watch described as infallible always shows the exact time without ever being wrong.
• A person might say, "He has an infallible memory," meaning he never forgets anything. A similar word is "perfect," but "infallible" focuses on never being wrong or failing, while "perfect" means having no flaws at all.

Substitution

You can replace "infallible" with:

• "unfailing" – suggests something always works well, e.g., "unfailing support."
• "reliable" – means you can trust it to be correct or work, but not necessarily never wrong.
• "faultless" – means without mistakes, similar to "infallible," but less common. Using "reliable" instead of "infallible" softens the meaning because "reliable" allows some chance of error.

Deconstruction

"infallible" comes from Latin:

• Prefix "in-" means "not."
• Root "fallere" means "to deceive" or "to fail."
• Suffix "-ible" means "able to be." So, "infallible" literally means "not able to fail" or "not able to be wrong."

Inquiry

• Can you think of a person or thing you consider infallible? Why?
• In what situations would it be important for something to be infallible?
• Do you think anyone or anything can truly be infallible? Why or why not?