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Glite Dictionary
🚫 Impossible to fix 🛠️ A broken thing
unrepairable

unrepairable

1 4.7
Too damaged to be fixed and used again
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌn.rɪˈpɛr.ə.bəl/
translation icon : irreparable
  • The technician examined the old computer and determined that it was unrepairable due to extensive damage.

Examples

  • I just got told that my furnace is unrepairable what can be repaired but the cost of it would be as much as a new one.

  • But that's unrepairable.

    A.I. Rising (2018)

  • "The engines?" Lily asked at last, no longer sure she cared to make the effort to escape if the shuttle was unrepairable.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I object to the cult of instant obsolescence, which makes everything I use unrepairable.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Of those remaining, 14 percent reported that they believed that this searching was done, but outside the preservation program (again, likely by collection managers or circulation staff), and an additional 3 percent responded that they only searched for the availability of digitized content if an item was deemed unrepairable.

    Academic text (2014)

  • The PRAM battery had detonated, destroying the ROM SIMM, the ROM SIMM traces on the motherboard (totally unrepairable), and was going after the metal chassis.

    Blog text (10)

  • After the storm, the car was left in such an unrepairable state that it was better to buy a new one.

  • When the sink exploded, the damage was so severe that I had to accept it was unrepairable.

Synonyms

irreparable
vsunrepairable
24 7.6

Too badly damaged to be fixed or made right again

is specifically about not being restorable to usable or good condition
irretrievable
vsunrepairable
4 8.5

You cannot get it back or fix it after it is lost

focuses on not being restorable to usable or good condition
unfixable
vsunrepairable
3 4.9

Impossible to repair or make work again

refers to something not able to be made usable or returned to good condition
unsalvageable
vsunrepairable
3 7.5

So damaged that it cannot be saved or fixed

focuses on inability to restore to usable or good condition
unrecoverable
vsunrepairable
2 7.3

Something that cannot be fixed or brought back

is about not being fixed or returned to usable condition
unretrievable
vsunrepairable
7.9

Impossible to get back

is about not being fixable or returnable to usable condition

Antonyms

fixable
9 2.7

Can be repaired or put right

How Repairable

restorable
1 3.9
fixable
9 2.7
unrepairable
1 4.7

Surface Forms

unrepairable positive

Morphology

unrepairable = repairable (transparent) = un + repair + able

The adjective is formed by adding the productive negation prefix 'un-' to 'repairable', yielding the straightforward meaning 'not capable of being repaired'.

Etymology

The word unrepairable is made from un- 'not', repair 'to fix', and -able 'can be'. So, it means 'not able to be fixed', which is why we use it to describe something that cannot be returned to good condition.