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irreconcilable

[ih-rek-uh n-sahy-luh-buh l, ih-rek-uh n-sahy-]
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adjective
  1. incapable of being brought into harmony or adjustment; incompatible: irreconcilable differences.
  2. incapable of being made to acquiesce or compromise; implacably opposed: irreconcilable enemies.
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noun
  1. a person or thing that is irreconcilable.
  2. a person who is opposed to agreement or compromise.
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Origin of irreconcilable

First recorded in 1590–1600; ir-2 + reconcilable
Related formsir·rec·on·cil·a·bil·i·ty, ir·rec·on·cil·a·ble·ness, nounir·rec·on·cil·a·bly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

implacable, uncompromising, inexorable, incompatible, incongruous, inconsistent, clashing, discordant, discrepant, dissonant, hard-line, inflexible, inharmonious, intransigent, opposed, reluctant, unfriendly, unappeasable

Examples from the Web for irreconcilable

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • And there are some things which are,' he stopped to sob, 'irreconcilable with that, and wound that—wound it deeply.

    Little Dorrit

    Charles Dickens

  • There necessarily exists a permanent and irreconcilable conflict of interest.

    Freeland

    Theodor Hertzka

  • There is in them an irreconcilable mixture of fury and formalism.

  • The differences of opinion among them were so great as apparently to be irreconcilable.

  • We seem to find that the ideal of knowledge is irreconcilable with experience.

    Meno

    Plato

British Dictionary definitions for irreconcilable

irreconcilable

adjective
  1. not able to be reconciled; uncompromisingly conflicting; incompatible
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noun
  1. a person or thing that is implacably hostile or uncompromisingly opposed
  2. (usually plural) one of various principles, ideas, etc, that are incapable of being brought into agreement
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Derived Formsirreconcilability or irreconcilableness, nounirreconcilably, 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

Word Origin and History for irreconcilable

adj.

1590s, from French irréconcilable (16c.), from Medieval Latin *irreconcilabilis, from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + reconcilabilis (see reconcile). Related: Irreconcilably. As a noun from 1748.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper