irreclaimable

American  

[ir-i-kley-muh-buhl] / ˌɪr ɪˈkleɪ mə bəl /

adjective

1. incapable of being reclaimed or rehabilitated.

   an irreclaimable swamp; irreclaimable offenders.

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irreclaimable British  

/ ˌɪrɪˈkleɪməbəl /

adjective

1. not able to be reclaimed

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Other Word Forms

• irreclaimability noun
• irreclaimableness noun
• irreclaimably adverb

Etymology

Origin of irreclaimable

First recorded in 1600–10; ir- ² + reclaimable ( def. )

Example Sentences

America lost 56,480 men in Viet Nam, the last irreclaimable body count.

From Time Magazine Archive

He understood that once Cully had slept in freedom for a whole night he would be wild again and irreclaimable.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Many of them are hardened to the life, irreclaimable; there are convicts who go off after having served their time, even after they have been put on some land as their own.

From The House of the Dead or Prison Life in Siberia with an introduction by Julius Bramont by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

In Claud's mind was a bitter thought which has countless times occurred to most of us, that the past is absolutely irreclaimable.

From The Tree of Knowledge A Novel by Reynolds, Mrs. Baillie

He told him that the loose and worthless company which he would there keep, would harden him in vice, and if he was now wicked, he might there become irreclaimable.

From The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain and Other Tales by More, Hannah