irreversible

From ir- +‎ reversible.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɜː.sə.bəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɝ.sə.bəl/

irreversible (not comparable)

1. Incapable of being reversed or turned about or back; incapable of being made to run backwards.

   an irreversible engine

2. Incapable of being reversed, recalled, repealed, or annulled.

   an irreversible sentence or decree

   • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:

     Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese […] began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death.

   • 2024 December 17, Lex Harvey, “Microplastics are choking our waters. Could a sponge made of squid bones help remove them?”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     “Even under a variety of policies, including plastic product reduction, waste management, and environmental recycling, microplastic pollution is irreversible and escalating.”

3. (thermodynamics) Incapable of being reversed to the original state without consumption of free energy and increase of entropy.

• irreversibility

From ir- +‎ reversible.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [i.rə.βərˈsib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [i.rə.vərˈsib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [i.re.veɾˈsi.ble]

irreversible m or f (masculine and feminine plural irreversibles)

1. irreversible

• “irreversible”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

irreversible

1. definite singular/plural of irreversibel

irreversible

1. definite singular/plural of irreversibel

From ir- +‎ reversible.

• IPA^(key): /irebeɾˈsible/ [i.re.β̞eɾˈsi.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: i‧rre‧ver‧si‧ble

irreversible m or f (masculine and feminine plural irreversibles)

1. irreversible (not able to be reversed)

   Antonym: reversible

• “irreversible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024