impossible
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- inpossible (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English impossible
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɒs.ɪ.bəl/, /ɪmˈpɒs.ə.bəl/
- (US) IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɑ.sə.bl̩/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: im‧pos‧si‧ble
AdjectiveEdit
impossible (not generally comparable, comparative more impossible, superlative most impossible)
- Not possible; not able to be done or happen.
- 1610-11?, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, scene i:
- Antonio: What impossible matter will he make easy next?
- Sebastian: I think he will carry this island home in his pocket and give it his son for an apple.
- Antonio : And sowing the kernels of it in the sea bring forth more islands.
- 1787, “The History of Europe”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Years 1784 and 1785, volume XXVII, London: Printed by J[ames] Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, OCLC 874176698, chapter VIII, page 134, column 1:
- It was impoſſible that the queen of France [Marie Antoinette] ſhould not be deeply affected by a conteſt, which ſo cloſely involved her neareſt and deareſt connections, and threatened ſo immediate and perhaps irreparable a breach of the harmony and friendſhip ſubſiſting between them.
- 1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- Nothing is impossible, only impassible.
- 13 March 1962, John F. Kennedy
- Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
- 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
- Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.
- It is difficult, if not impossible, to memorize 20,000 consecutive numbers.
- Sarah thinks that nothing is impossible because things can always somehow happen.
- 1610-11?, Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, scene i:
- (colloquial, of a person) Very difficult to deal with.
- You never listen to a word I say – you're impossible!
- 2006, Amanda Palmer (lyrics and music), “Delilah”, in Yes, Virginia..., performed by The Dresden Dolls:
- I never met a more impossible girl.
- (mathematics, dated) imaginary
- impossible quantities, or imaginary numbers
SynonymsEdit
- nonpossible (nonstandard)
- unpossible (rare)
AntonymsEdit
- (not able to be done or happen): possible, inevitable
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
not able to be done
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very difficult to deal with
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never happening
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NounEdit
impossible (plural impossibles)
- An impossibility.
- 1888 November, Joseph Le Conte, “The Problem of a Flying-Machine”, in The Popular Science Monthly, volume 34, page 70:
- In fact, to most people, the real impossibles do not seem impossible, or wonderful, or even difficult at all.
- 1890, Jean Kate Ludlum, At Brown's: An Adirondack Story, page 15:
- “Ye can't expect impossibles, and Jim hadn't no idee o' takin' yer trunk along of him in ther buggy when he kem hyar this mornin'.
- 1903, Jonathan Brierley, Problems of Living, page 16:
- For one thing, the Gospel's moral impossibles appear, in this light, not as an objection to Christianity, but as one of its most striking evidences.
- 1911, J. H. Jowett, “Turning Back”, in Homiletic Review, volume 61, page 392:
- Yes, the church lives for impossibles, and she lives by impossibles, and if she shrinks from impossibles her own vigor will shrink and die.
- 2000, Kenneth D. Keith, Robert L. Schalock, Cross-cultural Perspectives on Quality of Life, page 292:
- Aristotle (1952), in his Nicomachean Ethics, described the relation between will and choice: a Choice cannot relate to impossibles, and if anyone said he chose them he would be thought silly;
- 2010, The Journal of Parliamentary Information - Volume 56, page 20:
- Dreams are made out of impossibles. We cannot reach the impossibles by using the analytical minds which are trained to deal with hard information which is currently available.
- A skateboard trick consisting of a backflip performed in midair.
TranslationsEdit
an impossibility
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CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin impossibilis, equivalent to in- + possible.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
impossible (masculine and feminine plural impossibles)
- impossible
- Antonym: possible
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “impossible” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “impossible”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2022
- “impossible” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “impossible” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
impossible (plural impossibles)
Derived termsEdit
- à cœur vaillant rien d'impossible
- à l'impossible nul n'est tenu
- faire l'impossible
- impossible n'est pas français
- impossiblement
Further readingEdit
- “impossible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old French impossible, from Latin impossibilis, from in- (“not”) + possibilis (“possible”)
AdjectiveEdit
impossible
- impossible
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Frankeleyns Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868:
- Madame( {quod} he )thys were impossible
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
Middle FrenchEdit
AdjectiveEdit
impossible m or f (plural impossibles)