There's no reason to question the fairly straightforward etymology of indubitable - a word that has remained true to its Latin roots. It arrived in Middle English in the 15th century from Latin indubitabilis, itself a combination of "in-" ("not") and "dubitabilis" ("open to doubt or question"). "Dubitabilis" is from the verb dubitare, meaning "to doubt," which also gave us our "doubt." The word dubitable also exists in English, and of course means "questionable or doubtable," but it is fairly rare.
the indubitable fact that there are no more woolly mammoths or saber-toothed tigers around
Recent Examples on the WebThe indubitable charm of the movie is all the richer because it is tracked by quiet fears. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2022 This makes indubitable sense since that truck could suddenly swerve into the lane of the self-driving car. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2021 By the way, using San Francisco as a testbed does make indubitable sense. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021 Wiseman had a rocky year for Memphis, playing just three games for the Tigers, but his talent is indubitable. Calum Trenaman, CNN, 22 Dec. 2020 Friendship has been through a plethora of trends since the beginning of lockdown: the Houseparty phase (an indubitable nightmare), the era of the Zoom pub quiz and, more recently, the rise of the WhatsApp voice note essay. Zoe Beaty, refinery29.com, 22 June 2020 Her character, Belle, feisty and tender, arrives late to the story but makes an indubitable impact. Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 17 Oct. 2018 Maybe the result was not a reflection of English weaknesses at all, but of indubitable West German superiority.SI.com, 11 June 2018 According to Mario Zagallo, such a seamless transition to life without Pele was indubitable.SI.com, 16 Mar. 2018 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English indubitabyll, from Latin indubitabilis, from in- + dubitabilis dubitable