A WORD A DAY.
IRREFRAGABLE. We use this word to describe that which may not be gainsaid or denied, that which is not to be refuted —not to be answered or contested. It its a powerful word and deserves wider use. The word comes to us from the Latin irreiragabilis, “not to be withstood,” being a combination of ir (for the negative prefix in), “not,” and refragari, “to oppose, thwart, withstand.” Alexander of Hales, reared in Gloucestershire and one of the first English scholars to make his influence felt in Paris—where' he be'eame magister regens of the university’s chair of theology about 1250—earned for himself by his erudition the title of “doctor irrefragabilis.” Ir-ref-ra-ga-ble is accented on the second syllable; sound i as in it, e as in end, each a as in sofa, ble as b’l. “Irrefragable proof of his innocence was introduced.”
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19300527.2.112
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Southland Times, Issue 21093, 27 May 1930, Page 8
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144A WORD A DAY. Southland Times, Issue 21093, 27 May 1930, Page 8
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