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Webster 1913 Edition


Irregular

Ir-reg′u-lar

,
Adj.
[Pref.
ir-
not +
regular
: cf. F.
irrégulier
.]
Not regular; not conforming to a law, method, or usage recognized as the general rule; not according to common form; not conformable to nature, to the rules of moral rectitude, or to established principles; not normal; unnatural; immethodical; unsymmetrical; erratic; no straight; not uniform;
as, an
irregular
line; an
irregular
figure; an
irregular
verse; an
irregular
physician; an
irregular
proceeding;
irregular
motion;
irregular
conduct, etc. Cf.
Regular
.
Mazes intricate,
Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular
Then most when most
irregular
they seem.
Milton.
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
Against the
irregular
and wild Glendower.
Shakespeare
Syn. – Immethodical; unsystematic; abnormal; unnatural; anomalous; erratic; devious; crooked; eccentric; unsettled; uneven; variable; changeable; mutable; desultory; disorderly; wild; immoderate; intemperate; inordinate; vicious.

Ir-reg′u-lar

,
Noun.
One who is not regular; especially, a soldier not in regular service.

Webster 1828 Edition


Irregular

IRREG'ULAR

,
Adj.
[L. irregularis; in and regularis, regula. See Regular.]
1.
Not regular; not according to common form or rules; as an irregular building or fortification.
2.
Not according to established principles or customs; deviating from usage; as the irregular proceedings of a legislative body.
3.
Not conformable to nature or the usual operation of natural laws; as an irregular action of the heart and arteries.
4.
Not according to the rules of art; immethodical; as irregular verse; an irregular discourse.
5.
Not in conformity to laws,human or divine; deviating from the rules of moral rectitude; vicious; as irregular conduct or propensities.
6.
Not straight; as an irregular line or course.
7.
Not uniform; as irregular motion.
8.
In grammar, an irregular noun or verb is one which deviates from the common rules in its inflections.

IRREG'ULAR

,
Noun.
A soldier not in regular service.

Definition 2024


irregular

irregular

See also: irregulär

English

Adjective

irregular (comparative more irregular, superlative most irregular)

  1. Nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations.
    • 1967, Sleigh, Barbara, Jessamy, 1993 edition, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, ISBN 0 340 19547 9, 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. Of a surface, rough.
  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, page 4748:
      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.
  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).

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

irregular (plural irregulars)

  1. A soldier who is not a member of an official military force and, often, does not follow 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


Catalan

Adjective

irregular m, f (masculine and feminine plural irregulars)

  1. irregular

Antonyms

Related terms


Galician

Adjective

irregular m, f (plural irregulares)

  1. irregular

Portuguese

Adjective

irregular m, f (plural irregulares, comparable)

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

Spanish

Adjective

irregular m, f (plural irregulares)

  1. irregular