Invalid vs invalid

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Grammarist

Invalid and invalid are spelled identically but are pronounced differently and have different meanings, which makes them heteronyms. We will examine the definitions of the words invalid and invalid, where these words came from, and some examples of their use in sentences.

An invalid (IN vuhlid) is someone who is ill or weak and can not take care of himself. An invalid may have a chronic disease or condition. Sometimes the word invalid is used for a person who may become well again, but only if the illness or rehabilitation will take a long time. The word invalid is a noun derived from the Latin word invalidus, which means weak.

Invalid (in VALL id) refers to something that is false, unscientific, irrational, unsupportable, null and void. For instance, a coupon that has expired is invalid and cannot be used to discount a product. An argument that is invalid is false or unscientific and relies on faulty logic or outright deceit. The word invalid is an adjective that is also derived from the Latin word invalidus, in the sense of being weak or feeble.

Examples

“My child became an invalid because of the doctors”, she told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. (The Daily Star)

How Edward came to be paralysed is unknown, but according to an obituary in the New Ross Standard in 1933, penned by an unnamed colleague at the time of his death, he had been an invalid most of his life. (The Irish News)

However, that is precisely what the Board did when, in 2015, it declared the post-expiration discontinuation of dues checkoff an invalid economic weapon. (The National Law Review)

It states that the annual fall meeting on Nov. 12 and decisions made at it have been declared invalid for failure to comply with the bylaws of the NWT Fishermen’s Federation. (The Northern News Services)