irrepressible
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See also: irrépressible
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
ir- + repressible
Adjective[edit]
irrepressible (not generally comparable, comparative more irrepressible, superlative most irrepressible)
- Not containable or controllable.
- 1858, Charles Dickens, chapter 15, in Nicholas Nickleby:
- [...] here the two friends burst into a variety of giggles, and glanced from time to time, over the tops of their pocket-handkerchiefs, at Nicholas, who from a state of unmixed astonishment, gradually fell into one of irrepressible laughter [...]
- (of a person) Especially high-spirited, outspoken, or insistent.
- 1875, Wilkie Collins, chapter 3, in The Law and the Lady:
- The irrepressible landlady gave the freest expression to her feelings.
- 1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter XIX, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 210:
- Schomberg, [...] an irrepressible retailer of all the scandalous gossip of the place, would, with both elbows on the table, impart an adorned version of the story to any guest who cared to imbibe knowledge along with the more costly liquors.
- 1901, Frank Norris, The Octopus, Book II, Conclusion:
- "The irrepressible Yank is knocking at the doors of their temples and he will want to sell 'em carpet-sweepers for their harems."
- 1963 July 12, “People”, in Time:
- It was Paris' irrepressible High Fashion Doyenne Gabrielle ("Coco") Chanel, 80, so-soing this and high-hatting that, while Women's Wear Daily took notes.
- 2012 July 24, Mel Watkins, “Sherman Hemsley, ‘Jeffersons’ Star, Is Dead at 74”, in New York Times, retrieved 16 June 2013:
- High-strung and irrepressible, George Jefferson quickly became one of America’s most popular television characters, a high-energy, combative black man who backed down to no one.
Translations[edit]
not containable or controllable
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