Words / C2

FAL-uh-bl/ˈfæləbl/

Fallible means able to make mistakes; not perfect: fallible memory, fallible judges. Imperfect is everyday; infallible is the opposite (often sarcastic). Fallacious (this batch) is “logically unsound”. Do not call a fabricated n fallible as if it were an honest human slip.

Meaning

Able to make mistakes; not perfect (formal).

Examples

• “A fallible chair still needs a second pair of eyes on the n.”
• “Imperfect is everyday. Infallible is “cannot err”. Fallacious reasoning is a bad argument, not a modest person. Systems that assume one tired reader are designed as if someone were infallible.”

Good to know

Capable of error. Everyday: imperfect. Opposite: infallible. Contrast: fallacious (the argument is unsound). Fabrication is not fallibility.

Near in meaning

imperfect

New