inviolable

adj.

1. Secure from violation or profanation: an inviolable reliquary deep beneath the altar.
2. Impregnable to assault or trespass; invincible: fortifications that made the frontier inviolable.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin inviolābilis : in-, not; see in-¹ + violāre, to violate; see violate.]

inviolability in·vi'o·la·bil'i·ty or in·vi'o·la·ble·ness n.
inviolably in·vi'o·la·bly adv.

In case anyone forgot that China is still a communist country underneath all its economic development, along came a Beijing University law professor with a scathing attack on a law drafted to protect property rights which, he said, violated the country's principles:

"The critique's author... accused the legal experts who wrote the draft of 'copying capitalist civil law like slaves' and offering equal protection to 'a rich man's car and a beggar man's stick.'
Most of all, he protested that the proposed law did not state that 'socialist property is inviolable,' a once sacred legal concept in China."

Link: China renews an old ideological fight

Posted March 13, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

adjective

Protected from violation or abuse by custom, law, or feelings of reverence: sacred, sacrosanct. See sacred/profane.

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The adjective has 4 meanings:

Meaning #1: that cannot be transgressed or dishonored
  Antonym: violable (meaning #1)

Meaning #2: able to withstand attack
  Synonyms: impregnable, secure, strong, unassailable, unattackable

Meaning #3: must be kept sacred
  Synonyms: inviolate, sacrosanct

Meaning #4: not capable of being violated or infringed
  Synonyms: absolute, infrangible

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - ukrænkelig, urørlig

Nederlands (Dutch)
onschendbaar, onaantastbaar

Français (French)
adj. - inviolable, invulnérable

Deutsch (German)
adj. - unantastbar, unverletzlich

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - απαράβατος, απαραβίαστος, αβεβήλωτος

Italiano (Italian)
inviolabile, invulnerabile

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - inviolável

Русский (Russian)
нерушимый

Español (Spanish)
adj. - inviolable, inquebrantable, invulnerable

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - okränkbar, obrottslig, helig, orygglig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
不可亵渎的, 神圣的, 不可侵犯的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 不可褻瀆的, 神聖的, 不可侵犯的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 불가침의, 신성한, 거역할 수 없는

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 侵すことのできない, 神聖な

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) حرام : يجب أن لا ينتهك, منيع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮שאין לחללו, קדוש, שאסור להפר אותו, מוגן מהרס או חילול, בלתי-ניתן להשחתה, בלתי-פגיע‬

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