What does irreparable mean?
Word: Irreparable
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Irreparable means too badly damaged or too serious to be put right.
How do you spell irreparable?
Syllables: ir - rep - a - ra - ble
Tricky part: Repair is the trap. This word has no ai: pupils who copy repair write irrepairable.
Watch out for: irrepairable, irreperable
Memory tip: Once something is beyond repair, even the i of repair is lost.
Irreparable in a sentence
Example 1: Years of damp did irreparable harm to the palace ceiling.
Example 2: Losing the only copy of the recording was an irreparable loss to the music school.
Example 3: The banyan's roots had caused irreparable cracks in the old courtyard wall.
Fun Fact
Museum conservators follow a rule of reversibility: any repair to an old painting should be one a later expert can undo, so that no treatment does irreparable harm.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
irrepar_bl_
a) a, a
b) e, e
c) a, e
d) i, e
Show answer
c) a, e. The suffix here is the one in capable and movable.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Rainwater seeped into the archive and caused ireparable damage to a shelf of old maps, the curator told visitors on the museum's guided tour.
a) guided
b) ireparable
c) visitors
d) curator
Show answer
b) ireparable. The opening ir joins a base beginning with r, so two r's meet.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters to find the word that fits the sentence:
The spilt tea left the painter's only sketch of the river in a rearelairpb state.
a) irreparable
b) inseparable
c) irritable
d) unbearable
Show answer
a) irreparable. Irritable has a t, inseparable an n and an s, and unbearable a u and an n.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning.
1. irreparable 2. irregullar 3. irrelevent 4. irresistable
a) not open to being mended
b) not following the usual pattern
c) too tempting or strong to refuse
d) having no connection with the subject
Show answer
a) not open to being mended. Irresistible ends in ible, irrelevant has an a before the nt, and irregular a single l.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these would a repairer call irreparable?
a) a watch crushed into tiny bits
b) a bicycle with a flat tyre
c) a shirt missing one button
d) a chair with a loose screw
Show answer
a) a watch crushed into tiny bits
2. Where does the main stress fall in irreparable?
a) on the second syllable
b) on the final syllable
c) on the third syllable
d) on the first syllable
Show answer
a) on the second syllable
