irreversible
Americanadjective
adjective
-
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not able to be revoked or repealed; irrevocable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
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of irreversible
First recorded in 1620–30; ir- 2 + reversible
Explanation
If you can't undo something, it's irreversible. Time is always irreversible, as is the damage done to your skin by too much sun, so be sure to wear sunblock! While you see reverse inside of this word, you wouldn't use it to describe a car that can't go backwards. However, if the car was in an accident and cannot be fixed, you could say that the damage done to the car was pretty much irreversible, in other words the car is totaled.
Vocabulary lists containing irreversible
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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.
Because action enters a web of other lives, its consequences are unpredictable and irreversible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Such a system could help scientists evaluate tissue integrity before major structural damage becomes irreversible.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
Some experts had voiced concerns that the complicated transfer -- funded by the UK for an undisclosed amount -- risked causing irreversible damage to a work already weakened by 30 tears and nearly 10,000 holes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
Regenxbio’s Navsunli therapy targets Hunter syndrome, a rare genetic disease that causes irreversible brain damage and cell death, usually leading to death in a patient’s midteens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Discoveries are moments in an historical process that is intended to be irreversible.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
