irretrievable

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌɪr.əˈtriː.və.bəl/ UK /ˌɪr.ɪˈtriː.və.bəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #85745

Meanings

1

adj
impossible to recover, restore, or put right

The archive suffered irretrievable damage in the fire.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · impossible to recover,... irrecoverable irreparable lost

Opposites

retrievablerecoverablerepairable

Word family

Forms irretrievably

Derived forms irretrievably

Related forms retrieve recovery

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

irretrievable loss
The disappearance or destruction of something that cannot be recovered or replaced.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

Formed from ir-, the assimilated form of in- meaning not, + retrievable. Retrievable is built from retrieve, ultimately from Old French retrouver, meaning to find again.

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

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