irredeemable en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ɪɹəˈdiːməbəl/
- (US) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in- Latin ir- English ir- Latin red- Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₁émeti Proto-Italic *emō Latin emō Latin redimōbor. Old French redimerbor. Middle English redemen English redeem Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Italic *-ðlom Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English redeemable English irredeemable From ir- + redeemable.
Meanings
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Not redeemable; not able to be restored, recovered, revoked, or escaped.
She was horribly frightened; but she had pledged her word now, and it was irredeemable.
1909, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 2, in True Tilda:To Mr. [Jeff] Epstein, Mr. [Steve] Bannon said that while others called him irredeemable, “you are a lot of things — which we will show — but you are NOT that.”
2026 February 16, Sharon LaFraniere, Teresa Mondría Terol, “Despite Epstein’s Toxicity, Steve Bannon Stood by Him, Texts Indicate”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:It wavered an instant—then there was a heartrending crash—and the canary-coloured cart, their pride and their joy, lay on its side in the ditch, an irredeemable wreck.
1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC:
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(of debts, qualifier:currency, usually) Not able to be cancelled by a payment or converted to another form of currency or financial instrument, especially one considered more secure or reliable.
The subscribers to a new loan, who mean generally to sell their subscription as soon as possible, prefer greatly a perpetual annuity, redeemable by parliament, to an irredeemable annuity, for a long term of years, of only equal amount.
1776, Adam Smith, chapter 3, in The Wealth of Nations:Investors have always had to trust somebody or something. . . . But they have not always had to make a leap of faith about a nation's irredeemable paper currency. Up until Aug. 15, 1971 the dollar was exchangeable into gold at the rate of $35 to the ounce.
2005 October 31, James Grant, “O Sage! O Confidence Man!”, in Forbes, retrieved 17 Aug 2010:
Deriveds
irredeemably · irredeemableness
Synonyms
Translations (14)
pt irremível (not able to be restored) · bg непоправим (not able to be restored) · ca irredimible (not able to be restored) · pt irresgatável (not able to be restored) · pt irredimível (not able to be restored) · ro nerestaurabil (not able to be restored) · it irredimibile (not able to be restored) · es irredimible (not able to be restored) · es irremediable (not able to be restored) · nl onherstelbaar (not able to be restored) · ro iremediabil (not able to be restored) · uz oʻngʻalmas. (not able to be restored) · fr irrémédiable (not able to be restored) · fr irrachetable (not able to be restored)