— irrelevantly , adv.
/i rel"euh veuhnt/ , adj.
1. not relevant; not applicable or pertinent: His lectures often stray to interesting but irrelevant subjects.
2. Law. (of evidence) having no probative value upon any issue in the case.
[ 1780-90 ]
Pronunciation . The pronunciation of IRRELEVANT /i rel"euh veuhnt/ , as /i rev"euh leuhnt/ , as if spelled irrevelant, is the result of metathesis, the transposition of two sounds, in this case, the /l/ and the /v/ . RELEVANT, the base word, is occasionally subject to the same process. Analogy with words like prevalent and equivalent may play a role. A similar reordering of the /l/ and /v/ consonant sounds, althought not a strict one-to-one metathesis, can be heard for CALVARY /kal"veuh ree/ when pronounced /kav"euhl ree/ . Here the transposition is reinforced by the existence of the familiar word cavalry.