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
- irrelevance noun
- irrelevantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of irrelevant
First recorded in 1780–90
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 Hungarian photographer recoiled at the work of American photographers such as Ansel Adams, whose “cult of technical perfection,” according to Patricia Albers, risked “killing their subjects with irrelevant detail.”
Such damage control could revive their stocks after this year’s brutal selloff, driven by fears that AI would render software and services providers irrelevant.
From Barron's
The police chief said officers were combing through thousands of the suspect's social media posts, but added that Dorgan's gender identity was "irrelevant to the investigation at this point".
From BBC
“We know that the fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own.”
Cato’s foreign policy ideas tended toward isolationism, even at the height of the Cold War, which made it largely irrelevant in those debates.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
