Unausweichlichen

Unausweichlichen is the inflected form of the German adjective unausweichlich, meaning inevitable or unavoidable. It appears when the adjective modifies a noun and changes its ending according to case, number, and gender. Examples include Die unausweichliche Folge des Ereignisses ist schwer zu verhindern, Mit den unausweichlichen Folgen der Entscheidung muss gerechnet werden, and Man muss den unausweichlichen Weg akzeptieren. The form unausweichlichen is one of several declined endings of unausweichlich; it appears in contexts such as dative singular masculine (dem unausweichlichen Weg) and dative plural or other plural or feminine forms (mit den unausweichlichen Folgen).

Etymology and composition: unausweichlich is built from un- (a negating prefix) and dem adjective ausweichlich, which itself derives from ausweichen, meaning to avoid. Thus the combined sense is “not able to be avoided.” The word belongs to formal, often philosophical or legal registers, though it also appears in literary prose and journalism.

Usage and nuance: Unausweichlich stresses a strong, sometimes permanent inevitability, as opposed to unoriented chances or voluntary choices. It is closely related to unvermeidlich, a near synonym, but with slightly different stylistic nuance; unvermeidlich can be a bit less emphatic. In translations, unausweichlich is typically rendered as inevitable or inescapable, depending on context.

See also: unvermeidlich, unvermeidbarkeit.