Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lacking or exhibiting a lack of reverence; disrespectful.
  • adjective Critical of what is generally accepted or respected; satirical.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not reverent; manifesting or characterized by irreverence; deficient in veneration or respect: as, to be irreverent toward one's superiors or elders; an irreverent expression.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not reverent; showing a lack of reverence; expressive of a lack of veneration

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Lacking proper respect or seriousness; sarcastic.
  • adjective Disrespectful, cynical, cavilling, querulous, or vulgar, where one's own feelings, or especially deference to the feelings of others, customarily command silence, discretion, and circumspection.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not revering god
  • adjective showing lack of due respect or veneration
  • adjective characterized by a lightly pert and exuberant quality

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

ir- +‎ reverent

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Examples

Comments

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  • John Lennon was very irreverent and very intelligent.

    -Brenda Lee

    July 26, 2009