different between incongruous vs irreconcilable

English

Etymology

From Latin incongruus, from in- (“not”) + congruus (“congruent”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?n?k?n.???u.?s/, /?n?k??.??u.?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?k?n.??u.?s/, /???k??.??u.?s/

Adjective

incongruous (comparative more incongruous, superlative most incongruous)

1. Not similar or congruent; not matching or fitting in.
   • 1853, Charlotte Brontë, Villette, ch. 34:

     [P]erhaps he thought me, with my basket of summer fruit, and my lack of the dignity age confers, an incongruous figure in such a scene.

   • 1912, Jack London, A Son Of The Sun, ch. 1:

     Ardent suns had likewise tanned his face till it was swarthy as a Spaniard's. The yellow mustache appeared incongruous in the midst of such swarthiness.

   • 2014, Daniel Taylor, England and Wayne Rooney see off Scotland in their own back yard (in The Guardian, 18 November 2014)[1]

     For a few moments England toyed with the idea of making it a more difficult night than necessary. Scotland had scored a goal that seemed incongruous to the rest of their performance and, briefly, a fiercely partisan crowd sensed an improbable comeback.

2. (mathematics) Of two numbers, with respect to a third, such that their difference can not be divided by it without a remainder.

   20 and 25 are incongruous with respect to 4.

Derived terms

• incongruously
• incongruousness

Synonyms

• incongruitous

Related terms

• incongruence
• incongruent
• incongruity

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French irréconciliable, from Late Latin irreconcili?bilis, from in- (“not”) + reconcili? (“I reconcile”) + -?bilis (“-able”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

irreconcilable (comparative more irreconcilable, superlative most irreconcilable)

1. Unable to be reconciled; opposed; uncompromising.
2. Incompatible, discrepant, contradictory.
   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 26

     I amused myself by thinking that in his choice of books he showed pleasantly the irreconcilable sides of his fantastic nature.

Synonyms

• (unable to be reconciled): hostile, hateful, antagonistic

Derived terms

• irreconcilableness
• irreconcilability

Related terms

• irreconciliation

Translations

Noun

irreconcilable (plural irreconcilables)

1. Something that cannot be reconciled.