impenetrable
See also: impénétrable
English
Etymology
From Middle French impenetrable, from Latin impenetrabilis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɛnətɹəbəl/, /ɪmˈpɛnɪtɹəbəl/
- Hyphenation: im‧pen‧e‧tra‧ble
Adjective
impenetrable (not comparable)
- Not penetrable.
- The fortress is impenetrable, so it cannot be taken.
- 2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Time:
- The avalanche spread and stopped, locking everything it carried into an icy cocoon. It was now a jagged, virtually impenetrable pile of ice, longer than a football field and nearly as wide.
- (figuratively) Incomprehensible; fathomless; inscrutable.
- Business jargon makes this document impenetrable, I can't understand it.
- Opaque; obscure; not translucent or transparent.
- When night falls, she cloaks the world in impenetrable darkness.
Synonyms
- (not penetrable): impregnable, unfathomable
- (incomprehensible): See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible
Antonyms
- (not penetrable): penetrable, pregnable, fathomable
- (incomprehensible): See also Thesaurus:comprehensible
Noun
impenetrable (plural impenetrables)
- A person not openly given to friendship.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 236:
- I should lose the reputation that I am gradually acquiring among our impenetrables here, were I to confess the excitement which I felt at the idea of entering his house—the house of that great general under whose command you made your first charge.
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Note: This definition requires some clarification.
Translations
not penetrable
|
incomprehensible; inscrutable
|
Catalan
Etymology
From Latin impenetrābilis.
Adjective
impenetrable (masculine and feminine plural impenetrables)
- impenetrable
Further reading
- “impenetrable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “impenetrable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
- “impenetrable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “impenetrable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin impenetrābilis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /impeneˈtɾable/ [ĩm.pe.neˈt̪ɾa.β̞le]
- Rhymes: -able
- Syllabification: im‧pe‧ne‧tra‧ble
Adjective
impenetrable (plural impenetrables)
- impenetrable
- 1867, Cesare Cantù, Historia universal, 8, page 118:
- como una muralla impenetrable
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
-
Further reading
- “impenetrable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014