inalienable
adjective
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Alien, alienable, inalienable—it's easy enough to see the Latin word alius, meaning "other," at the root of these three words. Alien joined our language in the 14th century, and one of its earliest meanings was "belonging to another." By the early 1600s that sense of alien had led to alienable, an adjective describing something you can give away or transfer to another owner. The word unalienable came about as its opposite, but so did inalienable, a word most likely borrowed into English on its own from French. Inalienable is the more common form today, and although we often see both forms used to modify "rights," it was unalienable that was used in the Declaration of Independence to describe life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Examples of inalienable in a Sentence
Arthur Holland Michel, WIRED, 24 July 2024
That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit for happiness.
—Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 28 June 2024
The president and his top aides seldom follow the approach of former presidents who spotlighted detained dissidents to illustrate authoritarian abuses and highlight the superiority of the free world’s model of inalienable individual rights and the rule of law.
—Robert C. O’Brien, Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2024
But, as in these United States, the key question remains whether creeping totalitarianism — from the left and the right — will squeeze everyday people out of their inalienable right to just be their sometimes obnoxious, unkempt, idiosyncratic selves.
—Ed Wallace, New York Daily News, 6 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for inalienable 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inalienable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Inalienable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inalienable. Accessed 19 Sep. 2024.
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inalienable
adjective
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inalienable
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