infallible
part of speech
adjective (infallible; infallibly adv.; infallibility noun)
meaning for a pupil
1) Never wrong; never making a mistake. tree →
2) Always working or always succeeding: an infallible method. tree →
3) (church) Catholics believe the Pope is infallible when he solemnly teaches on faith and morals; this is called papal infallibility. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday talk: «nobody is infallible», «Mum's infallible cure for hiccups». In science: no test or person is infallible, so we check results. In church history lessons: the Catholic teaching of papal infallibility.
examples
- Nobody is infallible; everyone makes mistakes sometimes. tree →
- Grandma has an infallible recipe for pancakes. tree →
- The detective's memory was almost infallible. tree →
- Even computers are not infallible. tree →
- Catholics believe the Pope is infallible only in special solemn teachings, not in everything he says. tree →
- There is no infallible way to win at games of chance. tree →
- Laughing is an infallible sign of the highest degree of mental development. tree →
note
Formal word. Opposite: fallible (able to make mistakes). Trap: papal infallibility does not mean Catholics think the Pope never sins or never makes ordinary mistakes. Spelling: double l.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «infallible» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.