Irrelevant

Not related to or important for the matter at hand; not on-topic.

adjective

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Imagine This

Imagine you're in a meeting about a budget plan and someone starts talking about their weekend trip. The weekend story has nothing to do with the budget, so it's irrelevant to the discussion.

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Sounds Like

ih-REL-uh-vuhnt

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Looks Like

Looks like relevant with the negating prefix ir- (not).

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Remember This

Irrelevant is the opposite of relevant. The prefix ir- is a negation that attaches to a word starting with r, turning on-topic information into not-on-topic information.

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Other Forms

irrelevantlyadverb

irrelevancenoun

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Connect With

relevant, pertinent, applicability, extraneous, unrelated

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Note

In formal writing, cite only information that is relevant to the argument. Avoid labeling ideas as irrelevant unless you can clearly justify why they do not pertain to the topic.

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Study Deeper

Examples

The witness's anecdote about his childhood was irrelevant to the case and was dismissed.
The professor called the digression irrelevant to the main argument and redirected the discussion.

Synonyms

extraneousimmaterialunrelatedinconsequentialinsignificant

Antonyms

relevantpertinentgermanematerial

Etymology

From Latin relevans 'bearing on, relating to' with the prefix in- (variant ir-) indicating negation; thus 'irrelevant' = not bearing on the matter.

Mnemonic

IR Ignore Relevance — if a detail would not help establish the point, treat it as IRRELEVANT.

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Fallacious

adjective

Deceptive; based on or characterized by a fallacy; likely to mislead.

Receptive

adjective

Willing to consider or receive new ideas, signals, or feedback; open to information and influence.

Spontaneous

adjective

Produced by a sudden inner impulse or without premeditation; happening naturally and unplanned; arising from within rather than being forced from without.