unregainableadj.n.
/(ˌ)ʌnrᵻˈɡeɪnəbl/, /(ˌ)ʌnriːˈɡeɪnəbl/, U.S. /ˌənriˈɡeɪnəb(ə)l/, /ˌənrəˈɡeɪnəb(ə)l/ A. adj.
That cannot be regained; irrecoverable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > loss > [adjective] > lost > completely
unrecoverable?a1425
unrecurable1465
irrecuperable1483
unregainable1644
irrecoverable1645
irretrievable1695
retrieveless1703
spurlos versenkt1918
1644 T. Palmer Saints Support 23 The frailty of uncertaine, and yet un-regainable life.
1649 Bp. J. Hall Humble Motion to Parl. 22 The time is unregainable.
1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood xxii. 173 The everlasting green garden seemed to be left for everlasting, unregainable and far away.
1914 Med. Cent. Jan. 13/1 Every school child is paying tribute to unregainable time and opportunity to the system built without regard to individual ability.
1964 Prairie Schooner 38 351 In retrospect the ‘jolly evenings at the Harlings'’ are a significant part of the unregainable happiness of childhood.
2007 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 12 Dec. e1 Playing fast is a kind of armor: a refutation of the plain reality of aging—all that unregainable enthusiasm and lost muscle mass.
B. n.
With the. That which cannot be regained or recovered.
ΚΠ
1867 T. Carlyle Reminisc. (1881) I. 281 The wild struggles..towards the unattainable, the unregainable.
1955 London Mag. Nov. 16 When the unobtainable Seeming-disdaining Vision is captured, Beyond explaining He can but, enraptured, Accept this regaining The unregainable.
2002 R. Appignanesi Yukio Mishima's Rep. to Emperor ii. x. 206 The sorry and ridiculous spectacle I make of myself in my futile efforts to regain the unregainable.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1644