Wiktionary

irregular

See also: irregulär

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English irreguler, from Old French irreguler, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin irrēgulāris, from in- + regularis, equivalent to ir- +‎ regular.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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irregular (comparative more irregular, superlative most irregular)

  1. nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations
    • 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 33:
      ‘ “It would be most irregular Grandpa!” says Miss Cecily frowning and tapping her foot. “Well, we’re a pretty irregular family so that’s neither here nor there,” says the old man, impish like. [...] ’
  2. rough (of a surface)
  3. without symmetry, regularity, or uniformity
    • 1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:
      The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.
    • 2013 January 1, Paul Bartel, Ashli Moore, “Avian Migration: The Ultimate Red-Eye Flight”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 1, pages 47–48:
      Many of these classic methods are still used, with some modern improvements. For example, with the aid of special microphones and automated sound detection software, ornithologists recently reported […] that pine siskins (Spinus pinus) undergo an irregular, nomadic type of nocturnal migration.
    • 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
      Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
    • 2019 October, Tony Miles, Philip Sherratt, “EMR kicks off new era”, in Modern Railways, page 58:
      The improvements will be most keenly felt across Lincolnshire, where current irregular service patterns are more a function of operational convenience than passenger demand.
  4. (geometry, of a polygon) not regular; having sides that are not equal or angles that are not equal
  5. (geometry, of a polyhedron) whose faces are not all regular polygons (or are not equally inclined to each other)
  6. (grammar, of a word) not following the regular or expected patterns of inflection in a given language
    "Calves", "cacti", and "children" are irregular plurals.
    I hate learning all the irregular conjugations in French.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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irregular (plural irregulars)

  1. A soldier who is not a member of an official military force and who may not use regular army tactics.
  2. One who does not regularly attend a venue.
    • 2015, Brian Cook, Hands Across The Sea, page 190:
      There's one neighborhood tavern where the regulars and irregulars go after a hard day to unlax and rewind, throw back a few, and just hang out - you know the one.

Translations

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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irregular m or f (masculine and feminine plural irregulars)

  1. irregular
    Antonym: regular

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Galician

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Etymology

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Attested since circa 1300. Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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irregular m or f (plural irregulares)

  1. irregular
    Antonym: regular
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References

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Further reading

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

Pronunciation

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  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /i.ʁɨ.ɡuˈlaɾ/ [i.ʁɨ.ɣuˈlaɾ]
    • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /i.ʁɨ.ɡuˈla.ɾi/ [i.ʁɨ.ɣuˈla.ɾi]

Adjective

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irregular m or f (plural irregulares)

  1. irregular; nonstandard
  2. (grammar) irregular (not following an inflectional paradigm)

Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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Spanish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ireɡuˈlaɾ/ [i.re.ɣ̞uˈlaɾ]
  • Rhymes: -aɾ
  • Syllabification: i‧rre‧gu‧lar

Adjective

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irregular m or f (masculine and feminine plural irregulares)

  1. irregular, uneven, erratic, haphazard
  2. patchy, spotty, jagged, ragged
  3. fitful
  4. (grammar) (of a verb etc.) irregular
    Antonym: regular

Derived terms

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Further reading

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