irrevocable

adjective ir·rev·o·ca·ble \ i-ˈre-və-kə-bəl , ˌi(r)- , sometimes ˌir-(r)ə-ˈvō-kə- \

|Updated on: 22 Jul 2018

Examples: irrevocable in a Sentence

Editor's Note: irrevocable and Trusts

Definition of irrevocable

: not possible to revoke : unalterable

an irrevocable decision

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irrevocability

play \i-ˌre-və-kə-ˈbi-lə-tē, ˌir-(r)ə-ˌvō-kə-\ noun

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irrevocableness

play \i-ˈre-və-kə-bəl-nəs, ˌir-(r)ə-ˈvō-kə-\ noun

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irrevocably

play \i-ˈre-və-kə-blē, ˌi(r)-, sometimes ˌir-(r)ə-ˈvō-kə-\ adverb

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Examples of irrevocable in a Sentence

She has made an irrevocable decision.

Recent Examples of irrevocable from the Web

When LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, the damage to his image, and reputation at first seemed irrevocable.

— nathaniel friedman, GQ, "Kevin Durant Is in a Tricky Spot," 9 June 2018
Poland was grilled by its European Union colleagues over democratic values at an unprecedented hearing on Tuesday, just days before its latest court overhaul is set to make irrevocable changes to the justice system.

— marek strzelecki, Bloomberg.com, "EU Says Poland Must Do More to Quell Concern Over Court Revamps," 25 June 2018
These are ideas involving irrevocable choices, changes and that funny way that life has of making even great gains come with a loss.

— mick lasalle, Houston Chronicle, "Review: Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons in tune as dad-daughter songsters in ‘Hearts Beat Loud’," 20 June 2018
This year, in recognition of its 50th anniversary, the museum is celebrating the irrevocable impact these early images made on the field of portraiture at large.

— ryan p. smith, Smithsonian, "How Daguerreotype Photography Reflected a Changing America," 19 June 2018
Our daughters are joint trustees on our irrevocable life insurance trust.

— OrlandoSentinel.com, "Life-insurance trust requires estate-planning attention," 14 June 2018
Again, this offered an irrevocable upgrade to the corresponding unrestricted version after installation.

— peter bright, Ars Technica, "Latest Windows preview suggests you’ll be able to turn S Mode on and off," 7 June 2018
At each step, his opponents have had to choose between giving him one more slice of salami and staging an irrevocable breach.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "President Trump Is Taking Control of the Mueller Probe in Slices," 29 May 2018
The employee will also submit a notice of retirement, which according to the settlement agreement is irrevocable, and is to be effective July 1, 2020.

— genevieve bookwalter, chicagotribune.com, "Oakton college will pay $6,000 to settle discrimination complaint, worker must also retire," 26 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'irrevocable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

irrevocable and Trusts

Irrevocable has a formal sound to it and is often used in legal contexts. Irrevocable trusts are trust funds that cannot be dissolved by the people who created them (the other kind is a revocable trust). An irrevocable credit is an absolute obligation from a bank to provide credit to a customer. Irrevocable gifts, under U.S. tax law, are gifts that are given by one living person to another and can't be reclaimed by the giver. But the word isn't always legal; we've all had to make irrevocable decisions, decisions that commit us absolutely to something.