irreversible
46
6.0
- adjective
- /ˌɪrɪˈvɜrsəbl/
:
irreversible
- The doctor warned that the injury could lead to irreversible damage if not treated immediately.
- irreversible damage
- irreversible change
- cause irreversible damage
Question is whether we should permit irreversible surgeries.
- Question is whether we should permit irreversible surgeries.
- I'm concerned that I've done irreversible damage to her.
- The number one cause of irreversible vision loss in the world is glaucoma.
- And the only thing in the universe that's really irreversible in this sense is time.
- For me, risk is the potential of an irreversible negative outcome.
- Risk to me is the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome.
- Make one big, physical, almost irreversible change.
- Once damage has been done, sometimes it's irreversible.
- But yeah, with AI, it could be irreversible.
- Things like do these extinctions, those are irreversible.
- They didn't want to take a step that would be irreversible.
- Well, they're just, they just put the brakes on doing radical stuff that is life changing and irreversible to children.
- It might be different in every kind, but the quantum measurement process is irreversible.
- And that some of those cases are ones in which the psychosis is irreversible, correct.
- When energy spreads out like this, it is impossible to get it back, so this process is irreversible.
Examples
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The effects of airpower are often irreversible, while those of sea power are not.
Academic text (1993) -
The number one cause of irreversible vision loss in the world is glaucoma.
-
And in most animals, these cause irreversible changes.
-
But it made a sharp, irreversible break with the past.
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For me, risk is the potential of an irreversible negative outcome.
-
Captain, the damage is irreversible.
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Her condition had been coming on for a long time and was most likely irreversible.
Fiction book (1997) -
Deputy Speaker, the change that our high streets face is irreversible and it will take them time to adapt to it.
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For our own protection, this imprinting is irreversible.
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I'm afraid the poison caused irreversible damage to the peripheral nervous system.
Synonyms
24
7.6
Too badly damaged to be fixed or made right again
14
7.3
No one can change it after it is made
14
8.1
Impossible to change or undo
5
4.0
You cannot make it different
4
8.5
You cannot get it back or fix it after it is lost
2
6.4
Impossible to change
1
8.8
Cannot be ended or broken, for example a marriage
1
9.6
Not able to be fixed or made better
1
9.9
A right or claim that cannot be taken away
1
4.8
Not possible to change back after it is done
1
7.4
Not able to be changed later
Not able to be removed or erased completely
A mark, memory, or smell you cannot remove and that stays with you
Impossible to get back
Not able to be made like it was before
Not able to be pulled back after you pull it out
Cannot be changed back or used with either side facing out
Not able to be changed or replaced
No one can change it
Something you cannot change or fix
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
1
5.5
A change that cannot be undone, for example melting or rusting
How Reversible
Surface Forms
Morphology
irreversible = reversible (transparent) = ir + reverse + ible
The prefix 'ir-' clearly negates the meaning of 'reversible', making the overall meaning clear.
Etymology
The word irreversible comes from the parts ir- meaning 'not' and reverse meaning 'turn back'. So, it literally means 'not able to be turned back', which is why we use it for things you cannot undo or change.