irrepressible
[ir-i-pres-uh-buh l]
- incapable of being repressed or restrained; uncontrollable: irrepressible laughter.
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Origin of irrepressible
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
buoyantboisterousrebelliousebullientbubblingenthusiasticuncontrollableunmanageableunrestrainedunrulyunconstrainedinsuppressiblerhapsodicaluncontainableunquenchableunrestrainableunstoppableExamples from the Web for irrepressible
Contemporary Examples
Suppressed, banned, scorned—it seems to speak to something within the human mind (or soul, if you like) that is irrepressible.
From a production standpoint, most of Napa has been lucky and irrepressible in the aftermath.
He was grounded for a few days, but fortunately for us, and for politics, his irrepressible good humor could not be squelched.
Jim Brady, Reagan’s Gentle ‘Bear’ Who Roared Back to Life After Being ShotEleanor Clift
August 4, 2014
Then Germany scored first, in the 11th minute, through the irrepressible Thomas Müller.
And now all of a sudden I find myself consumed by an immense, irrepressible wrath.
Historical Examples
The irrepressible Aggie put on her most finically elegant air.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
It had within it a vital and irrepressible element of growth.
The Nation in a NutshellGeorge Makepeace Towle
Again came the irrepressible chorus, "Aye, that 'e did, sor!"
The Cruise of the Dry DockT. S. Stribling
Before the sentence was well finished her laughter was irrepressible.
And then the irrepressible, overwhelming, inevitable moment came.
The Woman Thou Gavest MeHall Caine
irrepressible
- not capable of being repressed, controlled, or restrained
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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 irrepressible
adj.
1767, from assimilated form of in- (1) "not, opposite of" + repressible (see repress).
Increase of population, which is filling the States out to their very borders, together with a new and extended network of railroads and other avenues, and an internal commerce which daily becomes more intimate, is rapidly bringing the States into a higher and more perfect social unity or consolidation. Thus, these antagonistic systems are continually coming into closer contact, and collision results.
Shall I tell you what this collision means? They who think that it is accidental, unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical agitators, and therefor ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation, or entirely a free-labor nation. [William H. Seward, speech at Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 2, 1858]
Related: Irrepressibly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper