irresponsive

[ ir-i-spon-siv ]

adjective
  1. not responsive; not responding, or not responding readily, as in speech, action, or feeling.

Origin of irresponsive

1
First recorded in 1840–50; ir-2 + responsive

Other words from irresponsive

  • ir·re·spon·sive·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use irresponsive in a sentence

  • Our blundering political system is pachydermic in its irresponsiveness.

    A Preface to Politics | Walter Lippmann
  • Here, then, is an element in a renewed life that has a peculiar refractoriness and irresponsiveness.

  • It was impossible: they only stared in hopeless irresponsiveness.

    The Story of My Life, volumes 4-6 | Augustus J. C. Hare
  • John took the distrait look for dreamy thought; her irresponsiveness for ethereal purity; her moodiness for superiority of soul.

    Pirate Gold | Frederic Jesup Stimson
  • Only he felt through every fibre the coldness, the irresponsiveness of those fingers lying in his.

    Robert Elsmere | Mrs. Humphry Ward

British Dictionary definitions for irresponsive

irresponsive

/ (ˌɪrɪˈspɒnsɪv) /


adjective
  1. not responsive

Derived forms of irresponsive

  • irresponsively, adverb
  • irresponsiveness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012