irredeemable

1. Not redeemable; not able to be restored, recovered, revoked, or escaped.

   She was horribly frightened; but she had pledged her word now, and it was irredeemable.

   1909, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 2, in True Tilda

   2 more examples

   It wavered an instant—then there was a heartrending crash—and the canary-coloured cart, their pride and their joy, lay on its side in the ditch, an irredeemable wreck.

   1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC

   To Mr. [Jeff] Epstein, Mr. [Steve] Bannon said that while others called him irredeemable, “you are a lot of things — which we will show — but you are NOT that.”

   2026 February 16, Sharon LaFraniere, Teresa Mondría Terol, “Despite Epstein’s Toxicity, Steve Bannon Stood by Him, Texts Indicate”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

2. usuallycurrencybusinessNot able to be cancelled by a payment or converted to another form of currency or financial instrument, especially one considered more secure or reliable.

   The subscribers to a new loan, who mean generally to sell their subscription as soon as possible, prefer greatly a perpetual annuity, redeemable by parliament, to an irredeemable annuity, for a long term of years, of only equal amount.

   1776, Adam Smith, chapter 3, in The Wealth of Nations

   1 more example

   Investors have always had to trust somebody or something. . . . But they have not always had to make a leap of faith about a nation's irredeemable paper currency. Up until Aug. 15, 1971 the dollar was exchangeable into gold at the rate of $35 to the ounce.

   2005 October 31, James Grant, “O Sage! O Confidence Man!”, in Forbes, retrieved 17 Aug 2010

plural irredeemables

1. businessA financial instrument that cannot be freely redeemed.