unrelievableadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnrᵻˈliːvəbl/, U.S. /ˌənrəˈlivəb(ə)l/ That cannot be relieved (in various senses).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [adjective] > of events, actions, etc.
unbootlyc1225
uncurablea1340
bootlessa1375
incurable1377
unremediablea1382
irreparablea1420
irrecuperable1430
unrecuperable?a1439
unrecoverable1461
unrecurable1465
remedilessa1513
remedeless1523
unrecompensablea1530
inemendable1532
immedicable1533
irrecoverablec1540
insanable1547
irremediable1547
irrecurable1548
unredeemable1551
cureless1557
unreparable1568
unrepairable1576
unmendable1584
unrelievablea1586
remedless1590
recurelessa1592
irrepairable1594
unrecovered1598
irremediless1602
unredressable1607
unsalvable1624
unrallied1651
reliefless1677
irrelievable1797
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [adjective] > beyond help
unrelievablea1586
unsuccourablea1586
inaidablea1616
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [adjective] > of persons: beyond cure or remedy > of disease or wound
recurelessc1425
unrecoverable1461
remedilessa1513
cureless1557
irrecoverable1594
unrecuring1594
immedicable1596
unruly1596
irrecured1598
irrelievable1670
irremediable1801
incorrigible1804
immedicinable1826
untreatable1865
inoperable1886
unrelievable1898
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. x. sig. G3v My ruine being but by one vnrelieueable.
1659 R. Boyle Some Motives & Incentives to Love of God 39 No degree of Distress is unrelievable by his power.
1676 W. Temple Let. in Wks. (1720) II. 420 Finding the Swedes weak, divided, and unrelieveable by France.
?1722 J. Newton Alexis's Paradise iii. 33 I will direct thee to an Ease of all thy Miseries, while mine are unrelievable.
1781 W. Combe R—l Reg. V. 9 Absolute Want, and unrelievable Penury, which seem to form the aggregate state of human misery.
1820 J. Bentham Mem. in Wks. (1843) X. 517 Communicate not to a friend..vexations of yours unrelievable by him.
1898 Daily News 29 July 2/6 No operative procedure should be suggested..until the case had been..found to be unrelievable by other means.
1920 M. Austin No. 26 Jayne St. xvi. 237 He was, in fact, very tired with..the continuous drain upon his sympathies of unrelievable human misery.
1995 D. W. Brock in J. D. Moreno Arguing Euthanasia v. 204 Patients whose lives, while they are dying, are filled with severe and unrelievable pain, and for whom euthanasia is the only release.
Derivatives
ˌunreˈlievableness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > despair, hopelessness > desperate state or condition > [noun] > beyond recovery
desperateness1571
remedilessness1601
irremediablenessa1631
incurability1632
incurableness1634
unrelievableness1654
insanability1659
irreparableness1727
curelessness1892
irredressibility1892
1654 ‘Palaemon’ Friendship 12 The unrelievablenesse of our bad condition.
1796 M. Hale & F. Hargrave Jurisdict. Lords House xvii. 110 The cases not relievable by the law were not relievable in the lords house in parliament, if the unrelievableness were for want of a law to relieve them.
1998 Rep. Constit. Affairs Comm. Voluntary Euthanasia (Legislative Council, Parl. W. Austral.) 19 Availability of voluntary euthanasia hinges upon the voluntariness of the request and the unrelievableness of the suffering.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.a1586