irretrievably
Americanadverb
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.
A column here last week reminded readers that the U.S. faced a similar dilemma in 1945: how to convince a battered and irretrievably weakened Japan that the war was over.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
“It could be in no danger … or it could already be irretrievably lost.”
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 4, 2026
But even if that were to happen, said Shosh Sasson, 72, there was a sense of something having been irretrievably shattered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
No-fault divorce currently allows spouses to file over "irreconcilable differences," "incompatibility" or because their marriages are "irretrievably broken," among other synonyms, with specific language depending on the state.
From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2024
I never forgot that schooling had irretrievably changed my family’s life.
From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez
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.
