irreversible
not reversible; incapable of being changed: His refusal is irreversible.
Origin of irreversible
1Other words from irreversible
- ir·re·vers·i·bil·i·ty, ir·re·vers·i·ble·ness, noun
- ir·re·vers·i·bly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use irreversible in a sentence
As the researchers point out, if your circulation stops abruptly, you’ll be unconscious within 30 seconds and suffer irreversible damage within two to ten minutes.
How Does Your Brain Respond When You Hold Your Breath? | Alex Hutchinson | November 25, 2020 | Outside OnlineNobody at that time could have predicted the misery and irreversible loss of life that would consume Ireland’s political future.
After further fits and starts, in the late 2010s women finally seem to be making irreversible advancements.
Mixed 2020 election results show that women still face a sexist political culture | Stacie Taranto, Leandra Zarnow | November 6, 2020 | Washington PostThat’s the threshold beyond which scientists say the planet will suffer irreversible, catastrophic damage.
The U.S. will leave the Paris climate accord on Nov. 4. But voters will decide for how long. | Steven Mufson, Brady Dennis | October 30, 2020 | Washington PostCatastrophic climate change occurs once human damage starts setting off tipping points that make the changes irreversible.
The apparent irreversibility is thus only an effect of the law of great numbers.
Because of the universal irreversibility, all would seem to him to come out of a sort of chaos in unstable equilibrium.
This irreversibility is due to the work required to evolve bubbles of gas at the surface of bright platinum plates.
British Dictionary definitions for irreversible
/ (ˌɪrɪˈvɜːsəbəl) /
not able to be reversed: the irreversible flow of time
not able to be revoked or repealed; irrevocable
chem physics capable of changing or producing a change in one direction only: an irreversible reaction
thermodynamics (of a change, process, etc) occurring through a number of intermediate states that are not all in thermodynamic equilibrium
Derived forms of irreversible
- irreversibility or irreversibleness, noun
- irreversibly, 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
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