irreducible

[ ir-i-doo-suh-buhl, -dyoo- ]

adjective

1. not reducible; incapable of being reduced or of being diminished or simplified further:

   the irreducible minimum.

2. incapable of being brought into a different condition or form.
3. Mathematics.
   1. of or relating to a polynomial that cannot be factored.
   2. of or relating to a group that cannot be written as the direct product of two of its subgroups.

irreducible

/ ˌɪrɪˈdjuːsɪbəl /

adjective

1. not able to be reduced or lessened
2. not able to be brought to a simpler or reduced form
3. maths
   1. (of a polynomial) unable to be factorized into polynomials of lower degree, as ( x ² + 1)
   2. (of a radical) incapable of being reduced to a rational expression, as √( x + 1)

Derived Forms

• ˌirreˈducibly, adverb
• ˌirreˌduciˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• irre·duci·bili·ty irre·duci·ble·ness noun
• irre·duci·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of irreducible¹

First recorded in 1625–35; ir- ² + reducible

Example Sentences

I realize this is heresy, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the irreducible strangeness of the drama.

From Los Angeles Times

On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow all but cracked her knuckles before weighing-in with, "This is a definitive and this is an irreducible verdict . . . The sentencing process will go on and those will all be pressure points. But the legal system in this country treats any former president as any citizen."

From Salon

But, Mr. Schjeldahl said, he nonetheless admired Mr. Andre’s search for what seemed to be an irreducible art object, presented “with an aggressive air of completeness and finality, as if each were the only, or anyway the last, work of art in the world.”

From New York Times

It’s the emotional and psychological ambiguity at the heart of Ernest and Mollie’s marriage, a parasitic bond that quivers with eroticism, swoons with tenderness and finally reads as an irreducible metaphor for Indigenous destruction.

From Los Angeles Times

The larger the integrated information, the more the circuit is irreducible, the less it can be considered just the superposition of independent subcircuits.

From Scientific American