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imperturbable

im·per·tur·bable

UK/ˌɪmpəˈtɜːbəbl̩/ US/ˌɪmpəɹˈtɜɹbəb(ə)l/ uncommon

adjective

1.

not easily perturbed or excited or upset; marked by extreme calm and composure

  • “hitherto imperturbable, he now showed signs of alarm”
  • “an imperturbable self-possession”
  • “unflappable in a crisis”
Synonyms
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Origin

PIE word *né From Late Middle English imperturbable (“undisturbed; impossible to disturb”), borrowed from Late Latin imperturbābilis, from Latin im- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + Late Latin perturbabilis (“perturbable”) (from Latin perturbō (“to confuse; to alarm, disturb, trouble, perturb”) + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives denoting a capacity or worth of being acted upon)). Perturbō is derived from per- (intensifying prefix) + turbō (“to agitate, disturb, unsettle, perturb; to upset”) (from turba (“disorder, disturbance, turmoil”) (possibly from Ancient Greek τῠ́ρβη (tŭ́rbē, “confusion, disorder, tumult”), either from Pre-Greek, or Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- (“to agitate, stir up; to urge on, propel”)) + -ō (suffix forming infinitives of regular first-conjugation verbs)). By surface analysis, im- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + perturbable.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.