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unrepeatable

unrepeatable

2 5.8
Something that cannot happen again or should not be said again
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌn.rɪˈpiː.tə.bəl/
: irrepetible
  • The act of communication, the unrepeatable instance of utterance, is the distinctive feature of canto popular.
  • unique and unrepeatable
  • unrepeatable history
  • unrepeatable person

Your life is an unprecedented and unrepeatable experiment.

Examples

  • She created an unrepeatable piece of art that captured the essence of her emotions.

  • For most students, college represents four unrepeatable years when they can devote themselves to "the best that has been thought and said."

    Academic text (1999)
  • The term I normally would use is unrepeatable in polite company.

    Blog text (25)
  • Your life is an unprecedented and unrepeatable experiment.

  • We came here to be ourselves, our extraordinary, unrepeatable selves.

    Blog text (17)
  • For always, in being born, someone singular and unrepeatable in his bodily existence appears in the world.

    Academic text (1995)
  • We are in touch with an unrepeatable center of consciousness, love, and freedom, a center that we cannot adequately conceptualize or classify.

    Academic text (1991)
  • The zealotry that characterized the Popular Front, the capture-the-flag fervor that ended up embedded in our popular culture, is an unrepeatable phenomenon.

    Academic text (2011)
  • According to scriptural teaching, humans are unique persons, "unrepeatable" in the history of the world, and therefore not under the law of "transmigration" as Buddhism teaches.

    Academic text (2015)
  • The drama is always unrepeatable because the leading actor—the victim, for Arasse—can perform only once (114).

    Academic text (1995)

Synonyms

unduplicated
vsunrepeatable
1 6.5

Not copied or repeated so there is only one version

is about being unique rather than about technical inability to make it again
unreproducible
vsunrepeatable
  • Specialized
1 9.5

Cannot be made again in the same way

is used for uniqueness or things not fit to be said again
uncopyable
vsunrepeatable
1 8.1

So unique that no one can make the same thing

can mean uniqueness or being unsuitable to be said again rather than copying difficulty
irreproducible
vsunrepeatable
1 9.6

Not possible to repeat exactly

is about uniqueness or being unsuitable to be said again rather than technical impossibility
unquotable
vsunrepeatable
1 8.0

Too rude or shocking for people to repeat in polite company

is broader, covering both uniqueness and being unsuitable to be said again
nonreproducible
vsunrepeatable
  • Specialized
1 8.6

Not able to be copied or repeated

is broader, also covering items that are unique or unfit to be said again

Antonyms

9 4.2

Safe to say again in front of other people

How Repeatable

repeatable
9 4.2
unrepeatable
2 5.8
one-off
25 5.6

Surface Forms

unrepeatable positive

Morphology

unrepeatable = repeatable (transparent) = un + repeat + able

The word 'unrepeatable' is transparently derived from 'repeatable' by adding the prefix 'un-', indicating negation.

Etymology

Unrepeatable starts with un- meaning 'not' and the part repeat meaning 'do or say again'. So, unrepeatable describes something that cannot be done or said again, either because it is 'one-of-a-kind' or because it would be wrong to repeat.