irresistibleness

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ir·re·sis·ti·ble

(ĭr′ĭ-zĭs′tə-bəl)

adj.

1. Impossible to resist: an irresistible impulse to sneeze.

2. Having an overpowering appeal: irresistible beauty.

3. Usage Problem Inevitable or inexorable.

ir′re·sis′ti·bil′i·ty, ir′re·sis′ti·ble·ness n.

ir′re·sis′ti·bly adv.

Usage Note: The word irresistible is sometimes used to mean "bound to happen, unstoppable, inevitable." A majority of the Usage Panel objects to this usage. In our 2006 survey, some 65 percent rejected the sentence The rise of liberal blogs was irresistible, given the broader climate of political debate.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Noun

irresistibleness - the quality of being overpowering and impossible to resist

irresistibility

power, powerfulness - possession of controlling influence; "the deterrent power of nuclear weapons"; "the power of his love saved her"; "his powerfulness was concealed by a gentle facade"

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References in classic literature ?

If this be so, fancy the irresistibleness of that might, to which the most impalpable and destructive of all elements contributes.

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"The Irresistibleness of Great Literature: Reconstructing Hawthorne's Politics." American Literary History 6 (1994): 539-58.

Sermons out of rags: constitutionalism, conspiracy theory, and "reading" The Scarlet Letter in Hawthorne's "Custom-House"

As Ruth's sister--the title character of Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov's play "My Sister Eileen," on which the musical was based--Jennifer Hope Wills is warm and winsome, her sweet soprano a neat match for a whole some girl entirely uncalculating in her irresistibleness to men.