1
as in hopeless
not capable of being cured or reformed
an irretrievable drug addict who had wasted a once-promising life
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in irreparable
not capable of being repaired, regained, or undone
this is just an irretrievable mess, so let's start all over again
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Recent Examples of irretrievable
Choi seems to be exploring, if subtly, the limitless number of paths a person can take, the manifold consequences of choices that seem inconsequential, the ways interpersonal disputes can widen into irretrievable losses, the awkward intersections of agency and fate: If only this, if not for that.
—
Book Marks
june 5, Literary Hub, 5 June 2025
There is a genuinely irretrievable, ephemeral, low-res version of the movie.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 17 May 2025
Lawmakers warn that evidence critical to future war crimes investigations may be irretrievable.
—Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 20 Mar. 2025
And there was data that was lost, that was irretrievable.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 2 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for irretrievable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for irretrievable
Adjective
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The Knights could only manage a hopeless heave from well beyond halfcourt at the buzzer.—
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Produced by Feingold’s Romantical and distributed by Level33, the film follows Leo Kadner (Feingold), a hopeless romantic New Yorker who reconnects with his childhood crush Eva Shapiro (Sarah Coffey) while preparing for his 31-year-old Bar Mitzvah.—
Adjective
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The lung damage caused by pulmonary fibrosis is irreparable, and medicine, therapy and lung transplants are options for treatment.—
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However, seeing him in a Yankees uniform would do irreparable damage to his legacy with the Blue Jays.—
Adjective
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Torney was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer with recurring tumors that eat away at bone marrow, damaging bones and the immune system.—
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University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have unlocked a potential new treatment to target an incurable form of childhood cancer with the help of a fast-reproducing pest known for swarming kitchen produce.—
Adjective
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Merriam-Webster defines it as the description of someone or something in a state of possibly irreversible misfortune and hardship.—
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This not only triggers power struggles and deep psychological shifts, but there could also be irreversible decisions around control, freedom and dynamics within our society.—
Adjective
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Broadly speaking, this is probably not irrecoverable damage to the ecosystem.—
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Aviation experts have said a preliminary report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raised questions over whether one of the pilots of Air India flight 171 cut off fuel to the Boeing 787's engines seconds after takeoff, leading to an irrecoverable situation.—
Adjective
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Time is scarce and unrecoverable, unlike money.—
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The contamination can lead to catastrophic engine failure, resulting in a vehicle fire or an unexpected and unrecoverable loss of propulsion.—
Adjective
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The cases in Blair’s book, however gruesome, catalogue methods that our species has used to manage terror, sorrow, and disbelief in the face of the irremediable and unpredictable arrival of death.—
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Additionally, the court found that after considering several factors, the government failed to prove that Abrego Garcia poses an irremediable danger to the community.—
Adjective
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Mary Roy, too, married to flee violence—her father, a civil servant under the British, beat his wife and whipped his children—only to find that her husband was an incorrigible drunk.—
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Who was this alien observer, whose gaze made me into a (slightly) better person, whose gaze (slightly) reduced my incorrigible self-centeredness?—
Cite this Entry
“Irretrievable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irretrievable. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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