Meaning & use
irreplaceable
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Impossible to replace if lost or damaged, because nothing else is quite the same or as good.
Grammar: Usually used without 'very' since it is absolute; it can follow a linking verb: the photos are irreplaceable.
Patterns
- irreplaceable to someone
- irreplaceable loss
The fire destroyed irreplaceable manuscripts from the fourteenth century.
My grandmother's recipe notebook is irreplaceable.
Please back up your files; those photographs are irreplaceable.
adjectivecomparable
Describing a person whose skills or character are so valuable that no one could do their job as well.
Grammar: Often used with a person as the subject, followed by to or in: she is irreplaceable to the team.
Patterns
- irreplaceable to someone
- irreplaceable member of something
After twenty years, the head chef felt irreplaceable to the restaurant.
He was an irreplaceable member of the research team.
No one is truly irreplaceable at work, however talented.
Common combinations
- irreplaceable loss
- Her death was an irreplaceable loss to the community.
- irreplaceable treasure
- The library's rare maps are an irreplaceable treasure.
- irreplaceable role
- Nurses play an irreplaceable role during a crisis.
- prove irreplaceable
- The old tools proved irreplaceable for fine repairs.
- virtually irreplaceable
- These spare parts are virtually irreplaceable now.
Synonyms and how they differ
- indispensable
- Indispensable stresses that you cannot manage without someone or something, while irreplaceable stresses that no substitute equals it.
- priceless
- Priceless focuses on enormous value, but a priceless thing could still exist in copies; irreplaceable cannot.
- unique
- Unique means one of a kind without implying anyone would miss it, whereas irreplaceable suggests loss would hurt.
- essential
- Essential describes need, while irreplaceable describes the impossibility of finding an equal.
Opposites
Word family
- replace verb
- to put something or someone in the place of another
- replaceable adjective
- able to be replaced
- replacement noun
- a person or thing that takes another's place
- irreplaceably adverb
- in a way that cannot be replaced
Commonly confused: irreplaceable or irreparable?
irreplaceable vs irreparable
Irreparable means damaged beyond repair; irreplaceable means impossible to substitute. A broken vase might be irreparable but still easy to replace.
Practice
Which word fits? 'The cracked phone was ___, but the manuscript my father wrote by hand is irreplaceable.'
Choose one answer.
The contrast with 'irreplaceable' needs something easy to replace. Irreparable describes damage that cannot be fixed, not the idea of substitution, and the other options do not set up the contrast.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “irreplaceable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.