adjective

• Not able to be undone or altered.

  ‘she suffered irreversible damage to her health’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Its repeal is a matter of urgency before irreversible damage is done to the energy market, the economy as a whole and to democracy itself.’
  • ‘The future effects are unknown, but drug experts fear they may include irreversible brain damage or mental illness.’
  • ‘And though it looks attractive, it causes irreversible liver damage to horses and cattle which eat it.’
  • ‘I've forgotten about that wooden frame and only narrowly miss causing irreversible damage to my vertebrae.’
  • ‘Do you think that our tourism industry is in permanent and irreversible decline, or do you think we will soon see the situation improve?’
  • ‘The main aim of burns resuscitation is to increase tissue perfusion here and prevent any damage becoming irreversible.’
  • ‘McKee explains that the swing must be at a maximum charge that's absolute and irreversible.’
  • ‘Although the plant has been mothballed, the damage done to Anjanwel is irreversible.’
  • ‘It seems that most sheep producers think as I do that the scheme is not only economically unattractive but also irreversible.’
  • ‘Altering soil condition can be done in a short period of time, but please note that this is an irreversible process.’
  • ‘They seem to envisage an irreversible downward spiral leading to the depopulation of Australia.’
  • ‘All those empires were unsalvageable due to their infuriatingly irreversible histories.’
  • ‘Speaking in Washington on the eve of an EU-US summit, Mr Prodi said the decision was momentous and irreversible.’
  • ‘The eye condition is irreversible and the study discovered that smoking was responsible for one in-five cases.’
  • ‘His efforts need to be given momentum that is as irreversible as the economic reforms sweeping the country.’
  • ‘Here physical time is understood as a stream of irreversible change that runs through physical space.’
  • ‘If they become convinced they are wasting both time and resources, a pull-out will be swift and irreversible.’
  • ‘Since the surgery is irreversible, the patients will experience less pain while resting.’
  • ‘So the business people tend to take the short cut and thereby force the newspaper down an irreversible path.’

  Synonyms

  irreparable, unrepairable, beyond repair, unrectifiable, irremediable, irrevocable

  View synonyms