irreducible
/ˌɪɹɪˈdjuːsɪbəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.69 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Not able to be brought to a simpler or reduced form.
adj
Unable to be factorized into polynomials of lower degree, as (x² + 1).
adj
Whose numerator and denominator share no common factor greater than 1.
adj
Whose only divisors are units and associates.
adj
Inexpressible as the union of two proper algebraic subvarieties.
adj
Not containing a sphere of codimension 1 that is not the boundary of a ball.
Example Sentences
- "With each reduction in the number of railways, there must come, eventually, a decline in interest, if only through reduction in variety; and when it comes to one nationalised railway only we have reached the irreducible minimum."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English ir- English reduce Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Italic *-ðlom Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ibilis Old French -ibleder. Middle English -ible English -ible English reducible English irreducible From ir- + reducible.