irregular

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jʊ.lə/

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪˈɹeɡ.jə.lə/

• Audio (US)

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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.

• (nonstandard): abnormal, singular; see also Thesaurus:strange
• (rough): coarse, salebrous; see also Thesaurus:rough
• (without uniformity): unstable, unsteady; see also Thesaurus:unsteady
• (not following the regular patterns of inflection): heteroclite

• regular

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.

Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [i.rə.ɣuˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [i.rə.ɣuˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [i.re.ɣuˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ

irregular m or f (masculine and feminine plural irregulars)

1. irregular

   Antonym: regular

• irregularment

• irregularitat

• “irregular” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “irregular”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “irregular” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “irregular” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Attested since circa 1300. Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

• IPA^(key): [ireɣuˈlaɾ]

irregular m or f (plural irregulares)

1. irregular

   Antonym: regular

• irregularidade

• “yrregular” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “yrregular” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “irregular” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “irregular” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.

• “irregular”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012

Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

irregular m or f (plural irregulares)

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

• regular

• irregularmente

• irregularidade

• “irregular” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Borrowed from Late Latin irrēgulāris.

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

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

• “irregular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014