impracticable en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ɪmˈpɹaktɪkəb(ə)l/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English im- English practicable English impracticable From im- + practicable.
Meanings
-
Not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice.
It has not been used for many years, and although it was impracticable to photograph the engine in the small confines of the shed it was possible to obtain a picture of the plate which it still carries showing the former ownership.
1952 February, H. C. Casserley, “Permanent Wayfarings”, in Railway Magazine, page 77:Prison abolitionists are dismissed as utopians and idealists whose ideas are at best unrealistic and impracticable, and, at worst, mystifying and foolish. This is a measure of how difficult it is to envision a social order that does not rely on the threat of sequestering people in dreadful places designed to separate them from their communities and families.
2003, Angela Y. Davis, chapter 1, in Are Prisons Obsolete?, archived from the original on 19 May 2023, pages 9-10:
- impassable (of a passage or road)
-
(obsolete, of a person or thing) unmanageable
H. is a person of extraordinary health & vigor, of unerring perception, & equal expression; and yet he is impracticable, and does not flow through his pen or (in any of our legitimate aqueducts) through his tongue.
c. 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks, published 1960, page 18:And yet this tough impracticable heart / Is govern'd by a dainty-finger'd girl ; […]
1713, Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent, published 1797:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more impracticable | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most impracticable | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
impracticability · impracticably · impracticableness
Relateds
Translations (30)
ca impracticable (impassable) · eo nefarebla (not practicable) · es impracticable (not practicable) · de unbegehbar (impassable) · ro impracticabil (not practicable) · nl onuitvoerbaar (not practicable) · hi असहज (not practicable) · pt impraticável (impassable) · de unbefahrbar (impassable) · de unpraktikabel (not practicable) · ro nepracticabil (not practicable) · nl onbegaanbaar (impassable) · bg неизпълним (not practicable) · pt inviável (impassable) · de undurchführbar (not practicable) · bg неподатлив (not practicable) · de unausführbar (not practicable) · de impraktikabel (not practicable) · de unwegsam (impassable) · fr impraticable (not practicable) · nl onberijdbaar (impassable) · gv neuchooilleentagh (not practicable) · ota صارپ (impassable) · fr impraticable (impassable) · ca impracticable (not practicable) · pt inviável (not practicable) · sv ogenomförbar (not practicable) · pt impraticável (not practicable) · sv outförbar (not practicable) · bg непроходим (impassable)