irrepairable

irreparable, irrepairable

Irreparable, meaning ‘that cannot be recovered or made good’, is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, and is used of circumstances and relationships, typically qualifying words such as consequences, loss, harm, injury, and damage. The word used to describe physical objects, machines, etc., that cannot be repaired is irrepairable (or unrepairable, not repairable, beyond repair), pronounced with the stress on the third syllable as in repair; but irreparable damage is the normal expression whether or not the damage is physical:

• These people were supposed to be making us fit and instead they were doing irreparable damage to my heart and lungs —J. Herriott, 1977

• The strikers had defied a decree…to end the strike, which he said was causing irreparable damage to the economy —Keesings, 1990

• Headcount is down from a peak of 1,400 to 562,…and presumably that's about as far as it can go without irreparable damage to the business —business website, BrE 2002.