irrespirable

[ih-res-per-uh-buhl, ir-i-spahyuhr-uh-buhl]

adjective

1. not respirable; unfit for breathing.

irrespirable

/ ɪˈrɛspɪrəbəl, ˌɪrɪˈspaɪərəbəl /

adjective

1. not fit for breathing or incapable of being breathed

Word History and Origins

Origin of irrespirable¹

From the Late Latin word irrespīrābilis, dating back to 1815–25. See ir- ², respirable

Example Sentences

An irrespirable gas, remaining after an explosion of fire damp in mines; choke damp.

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“Black damp” consists of accumulations of irrespirable gases, mostly nitrogen, which cause the lights to burn dimly, and the term “white damp” is sometimes applied to carbon monoxide.

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Effects of Impure Air.—Carbonic acid, in its pure form, is irrespirable, causing rapid death by suffocation.

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In a flaming building, indeed, the mixture of air with the smoke never permits the carbonic acid to become so dense as to be irrespirable; but in a place where the gas is present in undue quantity, the fragments of lime would materially mitigate its action.

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His impression is, "that the carbon is not procured from without, but naturally deposited, as life advances, in the substance of the respiratory organs; and that this deposit of carbon causes death, by rendering the lungs irrespirable, while, at the same time, it has much influence in modifying the progress of tubercular disease; so that, if the tubercular affection was not cured, its progress was so far checked, that life has been very long preserved."

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