irrelevant

adjective

ir·​rel·​e·​vant i-ˈre-lə-vənt 

: not relevant : inapplicable

that statement is irrelevant to your argument

irrelevantly adverb

Synonyms

• extraneous
• immaterial
• impertinent
• inapplicable
• inapposite
• irrelative

Examples of irrelevant in a Sentence

His comment is completely irrelevant.

irrelevant questions that merely disrupted the classroom lesson

Recent Examples on the Web

But Trump, from his first weeks in office, has instead threatened to render Congress almost irrelevant. —David D. Kirkpatrick, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2025

The drawing order of the five white balls is irrelevant. —Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 28 Mar. 2025

The constant pressure to fit into society’s molds has become irrelevant. —Erin McGregor, People.com, 28 Mar. 2025

To illustrate this finding, Anthropic artificially boosted a feature inside Claude corresponding to the Golden Gate Bridge, which led the model to insert mention of the bridge, no matter how irrelevant, into its answers until the boost was reversed. —Billy Perrigo, Time, 27 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1786, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for irrelevant

• relevant

Kids Definition

irrelevant

adjective

ir·​rel·​e·​vant (ˈ)ir-ˈ(r)el-ə-vənt 

: not relevant : not applicable or pertinent

the evidence presented was judged irrelevant to the case

irrelevance

-vən(t)s

noun

or irrelevancy

-vən-sē

irrelevantly adverb

Legal Definition

irrelevant

adjective

ir·​rel·​e·​vant ir-ˈre-lə-vənt 

: not relevant : not applicable or pertinent

irrelevant allegations

irrelevant evidence

compare immaterial

irrelevantly adverb