irretrievable

[ ir-i-tree-vuh-buhl ]
See synonyms for irretrievable on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. not capable of being retrieved; irrecoverable; irreparable.

Origin of irretrievable

1
1695–1705; ir-2 + retrievable

Other words from irretrievable

  • ir·re·triev·a·bil·i·ty, ir·re·triev·a·ble·ness, noun
  • ir·re·triev·a·bly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use irretrievable in a sentence

  • The waves broke so completely over them that I imagined every instant that both boats and men were irretrievably lost.

  • Small wonder then if Leonard Elwood had already fallen incontinently, helplessly, irretrievably in love.

  • He pulled away the mans hands from the gaping neck-wound, whence the life was irretrievably spurting.

    Cursed | George Allan England
  • The clue must be irretrievably lost, or it would have been discovered long ere now.

    The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" | Harry Collingwood
  • So long as such an arm fought for him, the cause of the Elector Frederick was not irretrievably lost.

    The Thirty Years War, Complete | Friedrich Schiller

British Dictionary definitions for irretrievable

irretrievable

/ (ˌɪrɪˈtriːvəbəl) /


adjective
  1. not able to be retrieved, recovered, or repaired

Derived forms of irretrievable

  • irretrievability or irretrievableness, noun
  • irretrievably, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012