irrelevant
Americanadjective
-
not relevant; not applicable or pertinent.
His lectures often stray to interesting but irrelevant subjects.
-
Law. (of evidence) having no probative value upon any issue in the case.
adjective
Pronunciation
The pronunciation of irrelevant , as , as if spelled irrevelant, is the result of metathesis, the transposition of two sounds, in this case, the and the . Relevant, the base word, is occasionally subject to the same process. Analogy with words like prevalent and equivalent may play a role. A similar reordering of the and consonant sounds, althought not a strict one-to-one metathesis, can be heard for Calvary when pronounced . Here the transposition is reinforced by the existence of the familiar word cavalry.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of irrelevant
First recorded in 1780–90
Explanation
If you're talking about hockey and someone keeps trying to mention football, you might describe their comments as irrelevant. Irrelevant means not related to the subject at hand. If a rock star becomes irrelevant, it means people are not relating––or even listening––to his music anymore. It isn't part of what people are thinking or talking about. The opposite is relevant, meaning related. An analysis of brush strokes in Manet's painting would be relevant to a discussion of texture in painting in general. Relevant was borrowed from Medieval Latin relevare "to bear upon," from Latin, "to lift up." The prefix ir-, meaning "not," is a variant of in- before words that begin with the letter r.
Vocabulary lists containing irrelevant
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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Keystone Exams: English Composition Glossary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The first impression was, well, I thought it was completely irrelevant," says Diamos, a pioneer in harnessing Nvidia's powerful GPU chips for AI.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Export controls can also be essentially irrelevant in some cases, Winter-Levy said, such as for training smaller models like those for biosecurity or missile systems, which can rely on older chips.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026
Fortunately, it only took me one email to get a reply from Sexton explaining why it was proved irrelevant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
"The problem is not that the menstrual cycle is irrelevant," she says, but that "not everything is predictable".
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
The fact that most of the evidence in support of any disparity had since been discredited was deemed irrelevant; what mattered was whether the law had seemed rational at the time it was adopted.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
