irrelevant
Not important or not significant for a particular topic or situation; immaterial.
EXAMPLE
Was du gestern gegessen hast, ist für diese Diskussion völlig irrelevant.
What you ate yesterday is completely irrelevant to this discussion.
irrelevant
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Meanings
Usage tips
Word structure
The word is the opposite of 'relevant' (relevant). The prefix 'ir-' is a negation, similar to 'in-' or 'un-'. So if you know 'relevant' (important, significant), you can easily work out the meaning of 'irrelevant' (irrelevant).
EXAMPLE
Deine Meinung ist für diese Entscheidung leider irrelevant.
Unfortunately, your opinion is irrelevant to this decision.
Use with 'für'
'Irrelevant' is very often used with the preposition 'für' (for) and the accusative to say for whom or what something is not significant.
EXAMPLE
Ob du müde bist, ist für den Test irrelevant.
Whether you are tired is irrelevant to the test.
Typical intensifiers
To strengthen the meaning, 'irrelevant' is often combined with adverbs such as 'völlig' (completely), 'absolut' (absolutely), or 'gänzlich' (entirely).
EXAMPLE
Sein Einwand war für die Diskussion völlig irrelevant.
His objection was completely irrelevant to the discussion.
Compare with
irrelevant vs egal
indifferent / no matter
Egal and irrelevant can say that a piece of information makes no difference. Egal additionally expresses personal indifference or a lack of preference, while irrelevant emphasizes objective significance for a particular topic. Use irrelevant especially with a specific question, calculation, or decision.
irrelevant
Für die Berechnung des Preises ist die Farbe des neuen Fahrrads irrelevant.
The color of the new bicycle is irrelevant to calculating the price.
egal
Mir ist egal, welche Farbe das neue Fahrrad hat.
I don't care what color the new bicycle is.
In real life
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