carved in stone
4
5.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
inmutable
- What separates the names carved in stone from the names written in sand for the waves to wash away?
Examples
-
No theory is carved in stone.
Blog text (34) -
Where is it carved in stone that a student must complete college in four years?
Blog text (24) -
This is proof, Sam, of your research, carved in stone.
-
The only evidence for it was carved in stone.
Academic text (2004) -
Strict constitutionalism ignores the intent of the Founding Fathers; it was never meant to be carved in stone.
Blog text (32) -
The guidelines for the project are carved in stone, meaning they cannot be changed.
-
Many believe that certain traditions are carved in stone and should always be followed.
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The agreement we made is carved in stone and cannot be altered without discussion.
Synonyms
15
7.4
Very strict and impossible to change
10
3.9
Not able to be changed
8
4.8
Very strong belief or feeling that cannot be changed
5
4.0
You cannot make it different
4
4.4
Very firm and cannot be changed or weakened
1
8.8
Cannot be ended or broken, for example a marriage
Fixed and not able to be changed
Already decided and cannot be changed
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'fixed and unchangeable' follows directly from the literal image of something 'carved' into 'stone' being permanent and hard to alter; a learner who knows those words can plausibly infer the metaphorical sense. This is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common metaphor for permanence, so it should be immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Carved in stone comes from the image of words or rules cut into rock: once you carve into stone, you can't easily change them. So saying something is carved in stone means it is 'fixed and unchangeable'.