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irrecoverably

irrecoverably

1 8.8
In a way that cannot be given back or fixed
  • adverb
  • /ˌɪrɪˈkʌvərəbli/
translation icon : irreparablemente
  • When he deleted the file without a backup, he realized it was irrecoverably gone.

Examples

  • But he did not even guess this, the wish being so irrecoverably buried.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Oh, dark, dark, dark amid the blaze of noon, irrecoverably dark total eclipse without all hope of day.

  • These efforts continued until January 26, 2010, when NASA officials announced that the rover was likely irrecoverably obstructed by its location in soft soil, though it continued to perform scientific research from its current location.

    Blog text (32)
  • So to skew the argument and paint the picture that approximately 50% of high school students will be losers for the rest of their lives, or impacted irrecoverably intellectually, is quite sensational.

    Blog text (16)
  • After the fire, the historic building was left irrecoverably damaged, with no chance of restoration.

  • The drastic changes in the ecosystem meant that some species were irrecoverably lost to extinction.

Synonyms

irrevocably
vsirrecoverably
16 7.7

So that something cannot be changed or undone

stresses permanence of change rather than inability to regain
irreparably
vsirrecoverably
9 7.5

In a way you cannot fix or make right

covers loss of value or state rather than only physical repair
irreversibly
vsirrecoverably
7 6.4

In a way that cannot be changed back

focuses more on irreversible change than on being unrecoverable
irretrievably
vsirrecoverably
5 8.1

In a way that cannot be changed back

focuses on inability to regain or fix rather than undoing
irredeemably
vsirrecoverably
3 7.5

In a way that you can never change or fix

narrows this to inability to regain or restore rather than hopelessness
irremediably
vsirrecoverably
1 8.4

In a way that cannot be fixed

is about permanent loss or restoration rather than just correction
unrecoverably
vsirrecoverably
7.8

In a way that cannot be fixed or returned to how it was before

has identical meaning but uses slightly different wording
irreclaimably
vsirrecoverably
9.9

In a way that cannot be brought back or fixed

emphasizes loss that cannot be regained or repaired

How Recoverable

permanently
218 2.9
irreversibly
7 6.4
irrecoverably
1 8.8

Surface Forms

irrecoverably positive

Morphology

irrecoverably = irrecoverable (transparent) = ir + recover + able + ly

Formed by the productive negative prefix 'ir-' on 'recoverable' and the adverbial suffix '-ly', so the meaning is directly derivable.

Etymology

Irrecoverably comes from the negative part ir- meaning 'not' and recover meaning 'to get back', with -ly turning it into a word that describes how something happens. So if something is lost irrecoverably, it cannot be got back or fixed, like a file destroyed after a hard drive crash.