irretrievableadj.
/ɪrɪˈtriːvəb(ə)l/ That cannot be retrieved; irrecoverable; irreparable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > loss > [adjective] > lost > completely
unrecoverable?a1425
unrecurable1465
irrecuperable1483
unregainable1644
irrecoverable1645
irretrievable1695
retrieveless1703
spurlos versenkt1918
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [adjective] > irretrievable
uncoverlyc1225
irrevocable1382
returnless?1615
reverseless1630
unretrievable1684
irretrievable1695
retrieveless1703
revokeless1774
irredeemable1839
1695 [implied in: J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 195 It..must needs have been all irretrievably lost, and useless to Mankind. (at irretrievably adv.)].
1702 D. Defoe Shortest-way with Dissenters 10 With an absolute, and, as they suppose, irretrievable Victory.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 423. ⁋5 The Condition of Gloriana, I am afraid, is irretrievable.
1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1869) III. xlviii. 49 He perceived the irretrievable decline of his brother's health.
1821 Duke of Wellington Dispatches Oct. (1867) I. 195 Whether we shall.. give up the government to the Whigs and Radicals, or, in other words, the country in all its relations, to irretrievable ruin?
1871 W. H. Ainsworth Tower Hill ii. vii The time approached when the irretrievable step must be taken.
Derivatives
irretrievaˈbility n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > loss > [noun] > condition of being lost completely
irretrievability1847
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [noun] > beyond retrieval
irrecoverableness1607
irrevocableness1649
irreclaimableness1748
irretrievability1847
irreclaimability1881
1847 T. De Quincey Secret Societies in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 662/2 The fatal irretrievability of early errors in life.
1882 ‘A. Thomas’ Allerton Towers I. viii. 137 The boldness and irretrievability of the step he has taken.
irreˈtrievableness n. the quality of being irretrievable.
ΚΠ
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Irretrievableness.
Draft additions September 2017
irretrievable breakdown n. Law the deterioration of a marriage to such an extent that there is no hope of a reconciliation; a situation of this kind as a ground for divorce.As a ground for divorce, irretrievable breakdown is variously and broadly defined in different jurisdictions.
ΚΠ
1956 Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. 7 186 The Women's Co-Operative Guild, for example, proposed the irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground of dissolution.
1988 Jet 26 Sept. 9/1 Citing ‘irretrievable breakdown’, she filed for a no-fault divorce.
2016 Hindustan Times 10 Sept. He failed to prove the irretrievable breakdown of their marriage.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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adj.1695