irreversible

See also: irréversible

English

Etymology

From ir- +‎ reversible.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɜː.sə.bəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌɪr.ɪˈvɝ.sə.bəl/

Adjective

irreversible (not comparable)

1. Incapable of being reversed or turned about or back; incapable of being made to run backwards.

   an irreversible engine

2. Incapable of being reversed, recalled, repealed, or annulled.

   an irreversible sentence or decree

   • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:

     Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese […] began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death.

   • 2024 December 17, Lex Harvey, “Microplastics are choking our waters. Could a sponge made of squid bones help remove them?”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     “Even under a variety of policies, including plastic product reduction, waste management, and environmental recycling, microplastic pollution is irreversible and escalating.”

3. (thermodynamics) Incapable of being reversed to the original state without consumption of free energy and increase of entropy.

Derived terms

• irreversibleness
• irreversibly
• thermoirreversible

Related terms

• irreversibility

Translations

incapable of being reversed

• Armenian: անշրջելի (hy) (anšrǰeli)
• Belarusian: неабарача́льны (njeabaračálʹny)
• Bulgarian: необратим (bg) (neobratim)
• Catalan: irreversible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不可逆 (zh) (bùkěnì)

• Czech: nevratný (cs)
• Dutch: onomkeerbaar (nl)
• Estonian: pöördumatu
• Finnish: peruuttamaton (fi)
• French: irréversible (fr)
• Georgian: შეუქცევადი (šeukcevadi), გამოუსწორებადი (gamousc̣orebadi)
• German: irreversibel (de), unumkehrbar (de)
• Greek: αδιάστρεπτος (adiástreptos), αμετάτρεπτος (el) (ametátreptos)
• Hungarian: visszafordíthatatlan (hu)
• Irish: dochúlaithe
• Italian: irreversibile (it)
• Japanese: 不可逆 (ja) (fukagyaku)
• Korean: 뒤집을 수 없는 (dwijibeul su eomneun)
• Manx: neuyantagh cur ergooyl, neuyantagh dy chur er ash
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: irreversibel

  Nynorsk: irreversibel

• Polish: nieodwracalny (pl)
• Portuguese: irreversível (pt)
• Romanian: ireversibil (ro)
• Russian: необрати́мый (ru) (neobratímyj)
• Spanish: irreversible
• Swedish: oåterkallelig (sv), irreversibel (sv)
• Tagalog: ditumbalikin
• Ukrainian: незворотний m (nezvorotnyj), необоротни́й (neoborotnýj)
• Welsh: anghildroadwy

incapable of being reversed, recalled, repealed, or annulled

• Bulgarian: неотменим (bg) (neotmenim)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不可逆轉的 / 不可逆转的 (bùkě nìzhuǎn de), 無可挽回的 / 无可挽回的 (wúkě wǎnhuí de)

• Korean: 돌이킬 수 없는 (dorikil su eomneun)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: irreversibel

  Nynorsk: irreversibel

• Polish: nieodwołalny (pl)
• Portuguese: irreversível (pt)
• Tagalog: ditumbalikin

Catalan

Etymology

From ir- +‎ reversible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [i.rə.βərˈsib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [i.rə.vərˈsib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [i.re.veɾˈsi.ble]

Adjective

irreversible m or f (masculine and feminine plural irreversibles)

1. irreversible

Further reading

• “irreversible”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

irreversible

1. definite singular/plural of irreversibel

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

irreversible

1. definite singular/plural of irreversibel

Spanish

Etymology

From ir- +‎ reversible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /irebeɾˈsible/ [i.re.β̞eɾˈsi.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -ible
• Syllabification: i‧rre‧ver‧si‧ble

Adjective

irreversible m or f (masculine and feminine plural irreversibles)

1. irreversible (not able to be reversed)

   Antonym: reversible

Derived terms

• irreversiblemente

Further reading

• “irreversible”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10