irredeemable

English

Etymology

ir- + redeemable

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪɹəˈdiːməbəl/

Adjective

irredeemable

  1. Not redeemable; not able to be restored, recovered, revoked, or escaped.
    • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:
      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.
    • 1909, Arthur Quiller-Couch, True Tilda, ch. 2:
      She was horribly frightened; but she had pledged her word now, and it was irredeemable.
  2. (finance, of debts, currency, etc.) 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.
    • 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, ch. 3:
      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.
    • 2005 Oct. 31, James Grant, "O Sage! O Confidence Man!," Forbes (retrieved 17 Aug 2010):
      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.

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