Definition of "irretrievable" []

• Difficult or impossible to retrieve or recover: Once the ring fell down the drain, it was irretrievable. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Cheles has discerned a valuable link between the phrase "virtutibus itur ad astra," represented at Urbino, and the opened manuscript of Virgil's Aeneid, displayed on the lectern in the Gubbio studiolo. 156 The page shown at Gubbio contains the following passage: "Each has his day appointed; short and irretrievable is the span of life to all: but to lengthen fame by deeds — that is valour's task.""
• "They responded to environmental change and either adapted to the arrival of pastoralists or selectively adopted herding practices. 1 Specific histories of these communities remain irretrievable, but the general contours of settlement are clear."
• "It is true that most cases can be solved through negotiations but sometimes the marriage is broken in law terms irretrievable break down of marriage."