Dictionary

insuperable en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɪnˈsup(ə)ɹəb(ə)l/ (US)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Latin insuperabilis.

Meanings

1. Impossible to achieve or overcome or be negotiated.
   • Regular services for passengers and goods were maintained for almost 50 years, but the speed limit of 16 m.p.h., imposed by the Board of Trade, proved an insuperable handicap after the introduction of competitive motor bus services. 1950 September, “The Southwold Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 578:
   • Underground stations were also slated for closure, and there were plans for massive ring roads to cater for the ever-growing numbers of people commuting into town by car. […] However, it soon dawned on politicians that this was unsustainable. Much of London would have had to be demolished to make way for the ring roads, and parking was becoming an insuperable difficulty. 2025 September 3, Christian Wolmar, “9 to 5: The changing face of commuting”, in RAIL, number 1043, page 57:
   • While Indian English may not have a uniform standard form throughout the country, this in itself is not an insuperable obstacle for lexicography. 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 308:
   • The basic problem before the court on Wednesday is that there is a Supreme Court case pretty closely on point – United States v. Bestfoods – in which the justices rejected the government’s argument that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act was such an important statute that it should create an exception to traditional state-law doctrines that require a high (indeed, all but insuperable) bar for actions seeking to ignore corporate identities and, in the common phrase, “pierce the corporate veil.” 2024 December 10, Ronald Mann, “Case Preview: Federal trademark law and doctrines of corporate identity”, in SCOTUSblog:
2. Overwhelming or insurmountable.
   • For the first time I steadily reviewed the obstacles—and to consider them was at once to see they were insuperable. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 4–5:

Forms

Antonyms

superable

Deriveds

insuperably · insuperableness

Relateds

impassable · unconquerable · insuperability

Synonyms

unsuperable

Translations (16)

de unüberwindlich (Translations) · pt insuperável (Translations) · ko 극복(克服)할 수 없는 (Translations) · el αξεπέραστος (Translations) · ga dosháraithe (Translations) · eo nesuperebla (Translations) · nl onoverkomelijk (Translations) · fr insurmontable (Translations) · el ανυπέρβλητος (Translations) · cmn 無法克服的 /无法克服的 (Translations) · ca insuperable (Translations) · de unüberwindbar (Translations) · es insuperable (Translations) · it insuperabile (Translations) · bg непреодолим (Translations) · ru неодоли́мый (Translations)