Incurable means unable to be cured. An incurable illness, incurable optimist, incurably romantic.
In medicine it is a hard word and a careful one: incurable is not the same as untreatable, and a condition that cannot be cured can often be managed for decades. Used lightly it is affectionate — an incurable optimist, an incurable romantic — which is much the commoner use in ordinary speech. Note incurably; and that terminal means expected to cause death, which incurable does not.
1adjectiveincurableUnable to be cured.
“He has an incurable disease, but medicine keeps it under control.”
2adjectiveunchangeableUnchangeable in character, said affectionately.
“My dad is an incurable optimist who thinks every day will be sunny.”
incurable is a quality of being uncurable.
Latin incurabilis is in- plus curabilis, from cura, care. Cure, curator and accurate come from the same care.
Latin
incurabilis
Old French
incurable
English, today
incurable
From Old French incurable, from Latin incurabilis.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Word Building