Definition of REGARDLESS

Q: Does 'irregardless' mean the same thing as 'regardless'?

Yes. We define irregardless as "regardless." Many people find irregardless to be a nonsensical word, as the ir - prefix usually functions to indication negation; however, in this case it appears to function as an intensifier. Similar ir - words, while rare, do exist in English, including irremediless ("remediless"), irresistless ("resistless") and irrelentlessly ("relentlessly).

Q: Is 'irregardless' slang?

Slang is defined as "an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech." Nonstandard , on the other hand, is "not conforming in pronunciation, grammatical construction, idiom, or word choice to the usage generally characteristic of educated native speakers of a language". While there may be overlap between these two categories, we label irregardless as "nonstandard" rather than "slang."

Frequently Asked Questions About regardless

Is irregardless a word?

"Yes. It may not be a word that you like, or a word that you would use in a term paper, but irregardless certainly is a word. It has been in use for well over 200 years, employed by a large number of people across a wide geographic range and with a consistent meaning. That is why we, and well-nigh every other dictionary of modern English, define this word."

Does irregardless mean the same thing as regardless?

Yes. We define irregardless as "regardless." Many people find irregardless to be a nonsensical word, as the ir- prefix usually functions to indication negation; however, in this case it appears to function as an intensifier. Similar ir- words, while rare, do exist in English, including irremediless ("remediless"), irresistless ("resistless") and irrelentlessly ("relentlessly).

Is irregardless slang?

Slang is defined as "an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech." Nonstandard, on the other hand, is "not conforming in pronunciation, grammatical construction, idiom, or word choice to the usage generally characteristic of educated native speakers of a language". While there may be overlap between these two categories, we label irregardless as "nonstandard" rather than "slang."

Examples of regardless in a Sentence

Adverb the weather looked bad, but they were resolved to go on with their picnic regardless

Recent Examples on the Web: Adverb Granted, Liverpool's ambitions were hampered by UEFA's five-year ban for all English teams after the Heysel Stadium disaster, but regardless -- they'd been absent from the top table for a long time. — Don Riddell, CNN, "Liverpool vs. AC Milan: 'Something unreal unhappened' in 2005 Champions League final," 22 May 2020 No word on exactly when it will be released—or filmed for that matter—but series creator Greg Daniels (The Office, Parks and Recreation) is excited regardless. — Angela Watercutter, Wired, "Amazon’s Upload Will Get a Second Season," 11 May 2020 Under pressure to keep the food supply chain flowing, some of the plant’s 3,500 workers, many hailing from Latin America, Somalia and Sudan, said they were told to report for work regardless. — Michael Grabell, ProPublica, "What Happened When Health Officials Wanted to Close a Meatpacking Plant, but the Governor Said No," 7 May 2020 Hendershot was previously scheduled to be limited in spring practices, regardless, because of an offseason shoulder surgery. — Jon Blau, Indianapolis Star, "IU football: Peyton Hendershot makes 'modified' return to Hoosiers," 22 Apr. 2020 Noem has fired back, arguing that plant workers were deemed essential and would have been reporting for duty regardless. — Washington Post, "For meat plant workers, virus makes a hard job perilous," 19 Apr. 2020 When there was a light, pedestrians focused on the traffic light and usually crossed the street regardless whether the car was driving aggressively. — Lionel Peter Robert Jr., The Conversation, "Linking self-driving cars to traffic signals might help pedestrians give them the green light," 21 Apr. 2020 On the other hand, the doctors here do our work regardless, without expecting any favors. — Joshua Mitnick, The Christian Science Monitor, "In Israeli war on coronavirus, Arab doctors rush to the front," 16 Apr. 2020 Christie’s says the family members have no proof the diamond belongs to them and that, regardless, its client, who bought it from the stepbrother, had every right to sell the stone. — Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, "Christie’s Auctioned a $40 Million Diamond. Was It Stolen?," 30 Oct. 2019

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