irrepressible
12
7.0
- adjective
- /ˌɪrɪˈprɛsəbl/
:
irrefrenable
- He's the irrepressible spirit of youth.
- an irrepressible force
His sense of service, intellectual curiosity and capacity to squeeze fun out of any situation were all irrepressible.
- His sense of service, intellectual curiosity and capacity to squeeze fun out of any situation were all irrepressible.
- And at the end of the day, it won't work because again, language is created by people and people are irrepressible.
- And the two they're going to argue are incompatible, irrepressible.
Examples
-
As I told your husband, I have an irrepressible curiosity on this subject.
Fiction book (1999) -
Even after 42 years in politics, the vice president remains as spontaneous and irrepressible as ever.
Blog text (14) -
In fact, there seems to be a kind of irrepressible life behind it.
-
Just with that irrepressible confidence of his and those eyes.
Fiction book (1994) -
How the young finance their irrepressible desire for travel is a mystery to me.
-
Haynes had tremendous respect for these young women and saw in them the irrepressible spirit that characterized her own life.
Academic text (1997) -
It's a good kind of laugh, an irrepressible guffaw of recognition and perhaps of nostalgia.
Fiction book (2001) -
In a consumer market saturated with material goals, theology reminds us of the irrepressible spiritual dimensions of the human heart.
Academic text (2008) -
When no one could think of a plan to resurrect Itchy and Scratchy, a young boy, a wonderful, irrepressible young boy, took it on his own to solve the problem.
-
His brown eyes crinkled with the same irrepressible enthusiasm that drew me to him.
Synonyms
47
4.9
Not able to be held back
14
4.1
Quick to become excited or nervous
1
7.5
Being very lively or excited in a way that feels too much
People show strong feelings openly without control
To become easily excited and react strongly to small things
Easily excited and likely to react strongly to small sounds or activity
Antonyms
How Lively
Surface Forms
Morphology
irrepressible = repressible (transparent) = ir + repress + ible
A straightforward negative prefix 'ir-' attaches to 'repressible' to mean 'not able to be repressed', which is directly inferable from the parts.
Etymology
Irrepressible breaks into in- 'not', re- 'again/back', and press 'to push down'. A helpful image is something you try to press down—like laughter or energy—that keeps popping up, so irrepressible means you cannot hold it down or control it.