Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct
usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech
or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it
has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of
irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the
negative
ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably
argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and
unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably
continue to be so.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
