irreversibility.

The inability to return a process or change to its earlier state.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• practical irreversibility
• irreversibility of damage

On the page

The decision turned on the irreversibility of the damage.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, explanation, qualification. Commonness: moderately common.