impossible
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪmˈpɒs.ɪ.bəl/
ipa: /ɪmˈpɒs.ə.bəl/
ipa: /ɪmˈpɑ.sə.bl̩/
Forms: form: more impossible
form: most impossible
form: inpossible
Etymology: From Middle English impossible, equivalent to im- + possible.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: 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.
ref: 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, chapter VIII, page 134, column 1:
text: ALICE: I'm looking for a White Rabbit.... So if you don't mind. (Alice looks through the key hole) There he is - I simply must get through
DOORKNOB: Sorry, you're much too big. Simply impassable.
ALICE: You mean impossible.
DOORKNOB: No, IMPASSABLE - NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE.
ref: 1951, Alice in Wonderland, Walt Disney Productions; quoted in Jabberwocky, volumes 1–2, The Lewis Carroll Society, 1969, page 9:
text: 13 March 1962, John F. Kennedy, speech at the White House
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
text: 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.
ref: 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
text: It is difficult, if not impossible, to memorize 20,000 consecutive numbers.
text: Sarah thinks that nothing is impossible because things can always somehow happen.
glosses: Not possible; not able to be done or happen.
examples: text: You never listen to a word I say – you're impossible!
text: This humidity is impossible.
text: I never met a more impossible girl.
ref: 2006, Amanda Palmer, “Delilah”, in Yes, Virginia..., performed by The Dresden Dolls:
glosses: Very difficult to deal with.
raw_tags: of a person
examples: text: impossible quantities, or imaginary numbers
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: imaginary
Synonyms: word: unfeasible
word: nonpossible
word: unhappenable
word: unpossible
Derived terms: ask the impossible
do the impossible
impossibility
impossible bottle
impossible color
impossible dip
impossible dream
impossible event
impossible fork
impossibleness
impossible pie
impossible story
impossible trident
impossible trinity
impossibly
mission impossible
unimpossible