irresistible
/ˌɪɹɪˈzɪstəbəl/ih-rih-ZIH-stuh-buhl
/ˌɪɹɪˈzɪstəbəl/ih-rih-ZIH-stuh-buhl
Meaningunable to be withstood
Common meaning: impossible to hold out against
- irnot
- reagain; back
- sistto stand, be upright or stillLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1762 · scan
- ibleable to be
‘not’ + ‘again’ + ‘to stand, be upright or still’ → irresistible
Journey through time
- Latinstō, stetī, statum‘to stand, be upright or still’
- Frenchresister
- Englishirresistible‘impossible to hold out against’ · today
ir- also in: irrigateirregularirreducibleirremovableirremovably
re- also in: reactrebelrelaxrepelreply
sist also in: stanzastatussubstancethermostatsubstandard
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin stō ‘to stand, be upright or still’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry stō, p. 1762 · dictionary scan
Roots
- stō, stetī, statum Latin “to stand, be upright or still”
Related words
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