Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use irregular in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Irregular means nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations. Example: “"Calves", "cacti", and "children" are irregular plurals.”

Examples of irregular by meaning

adjectiveNonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations.

  • ‘ “It would be most irregular Grandpa!” says Miss Cecily frowning and tapping her foot.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 33

adjectiveWithout symmetry, regularity, or uniformity.

  • Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick
  • Near by, where the crystal clear River Llugwy is crossed by a bridge, stands a small and ancient church built of massive, irregular boulders.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 100
  • The improvements will be most keenly felt across Lincolnshire, where current irregular service patterns are more a function of operational convenience than passenger demand.2019 October, Tony Miles, Philip Sherratt, “EMR kicks off new era”, in Modern Railways, page 58

adjectiveOf a word, not following the regular or expected patterns of inflection in a given language.

  • "Calves", "cacti", and "children" are irregular plurals.
  • "To buy" is an irregular English verb: its past simple and past participle tense is "bought".
  • I hate learning all the irregular conjugations in French.

nounOne who does not regularly attend a venue.

  • 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.2015, Brian Cook, Hands Across The Sea, page 190

More sentences with irregular

  • Idioms such as "red herring" are listemes, as are irregular forms such as "geese".From the entry listeme
  • The irregular back-and-forth flutter of this fishing lure imitates the movement of an injured or sick fish.From the entry flutter
  • The surface had an irregular, musciform quality, interrupted by various ridges and valleys.From the entry musciform
  • A reticulose rhizopod is one in which the pseudopodia blend together and form irregular meshes.From the entry reticulose
  • The neurites of the intrastomatogastric nerve plexus are arranged in an irregular, net-like manner.From the entry intrastomatogastric
  • The borrower's preference for a nonstructurable loan allowed for greater flexibility in repayment, accommodating irregular income streams.From the entry nonstructurable
  • The framers toed the irregular pieces into the sill.From the entry toe
  • This book on English grammar encompasses all irregular verbs.From the entry encompass
  • Apples with an irregular shape may be rejected as outgrades.From the entry outgrade
  • The Magellanic Clouds are irregular galaxies.From the entry irregular galaxy
  • There are three typical forms of ode: Horatian, Pindaric and irregular. Horatian odes follow the conventions of Horace, who deliberately imitated the Greek lyricists such as Alcaeus and Anacreon.From the entry Horatian
  • These scholars identify well-defined irregular correspondences recurring in words found across the (northern) European branches of Indo-European.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 35. From the entry morphophonological
  • The most common type of irregular heartbeat is atrial fibrillation or AFib.2024 February 13, “Understanding Your Heart Rate”, in Emory Healthcare. From the entry fibrillation
  • "Also, it should be noted that the Standarin reading of 瑞 is irregular.2023 March 26, @wong417, Twitter. From the entry Standarin
  • Plus, my periods had always been irregular, so I could go six weeks before it appeared.2019 November 5, Iris Morland, Oopsie Daisy: A Steamy Romantic Comedy: Professor Student Accidental Pregnancy Romance, Blue Violet Press LLC. From the entry stealth
  • Study showed that severe hemolytic anemia after childbirth was due to isoimmunization caused by an irregular antibody.2015 July 6, “Revisiting the Diego Blood Group System in Amerindians: Evidence for Gene-Culture Comigration”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry isoimmunization
  • Russian SPETSNAZ are irregular forces that operate covertly, providing the Russian government plausible deniability.2014, “Little Green Men”: A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United…. From the entry plausible
  • His breathing, irregular for three, then four, then five breaths, returned to its normal, soundless rhythm.2014, Samuel R. Delany, Tales of Nevèrÿon, →ISBN. From the entry underlip
  • Polygonal stonework structures are also considered Cyclopean, composed of medium-large stones or irregular shape and not isodoma.2014, Alberto Pozzi, Megalithism: Sacred and Pagan Architecture in Prehistory, page 319. From the entry isodoma
  • Hybrid warfare is waged using a combination of regular and irregular warfare tools, concepts, and doctrines.2013, Jacquelyn K. Davis, Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Anticipating a Nuclear Iran: Challenges for U.S. Security, →ISBN, page 200. From the entry hybrid warfare
  • Near the coast, tidal creeks and high marshland formed a landscape with irregular parcellings.2003, Dennis Howard Green, Frank Siegmund, The Continental Saxons from the Migration Period to the Tenth Century, page 38. From the entry parcelling
  • All men had micropenes and the women had irregular menstrual periods.2002 October, Ruth Riise, Kristina Tornqvist, Alan F. Wright, Kirk Mykytyn, Val C. Sheffield, “The Phenotype in Norwegian Patients With…. From the entry micropenis
  • After death, irregular melonic spots developed on the intersegmental regions of the body.2001, South Indian Horticulture - Volumes 49-50, page 282. From the entry melonic
  • They are characterized by a broad, irregular band of abrasion of the skin around the exit.1999, Vincent J. M. Di Maio, Gunshot Wounds, page 94. From the entry shore
  • Young animals are angular and slightly thin-fleshed; mature animals are slightly thick-fleshed, but irregular in contour.1999, J. S. Pruthi, Quick Freezing Preservation of Foods: Foods of animal origin. From the entry wasty
  • Exit wounds can be stellate, slit-like, crescent, circular, or completely irregular (Figure 4.23).1998, Vincent J. M. Di Maio, Gunshot Wounds: Practical Aspects of Firearms, Ballistics, and Forensic Techniques, 2nd edition, CRC Press…. From the entry exit wound
  • Our conversation took place in a sort of no-man's land of irregular French.1985, Richard Holmes, chapter 1, in Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN; republished London…. From the entry stonewall
  • They were irregulars, armed and clothed fragmentarily with junk taken from real soldiers who were newly dead.1969, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 3, in Slaughterhouse-Five, New York: Dial, published 2005, page 57. From the entry fragmentarily
  • A pimpled chin, dark with cathairs, a mouthful of irregular teeth, were visible below helmet and goggles.1968, Benedict Kiely, Dogs Enjoy the Morning, Penguin Books, published 1971, page 18. From the entry cathair
  • The singler could be provided with means for compensating for an irregular braird.1968, Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, page 5. From the entry singler
  • “It would be most irregular Grandpa!” says Miss Cecily frowning and tapping her foot.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 33. From the entry neither here nor there
  • If the employment is irregular or occasional, the allowance is adjusted to be consistent with the situation.1966, United States Congressional Serial Set, page 903. From the entry halftime

Meaning of irregular

  1. adjective Nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations.
  2. adjective Of a surface, rough.
  3. adjective Without symmetry, regularity, or uniformity.

Full definition of irregular

Questions about irregular in a sentence

How do you use irregular in a sentence?
Irregular is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “"Calves", "cacti", and "children" are irregular plurals.”
What is a short sentence with irregular?
“The Magellanic Clouds are irregular galaxies.”
What does irregular mean?
Irregular means nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: irregular (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use irregular in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/irregular. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.