impenetrable

See also: impénétrable

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French impenetrable, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin impenetrabilis.

Adjective

impenetrable (not comparable)

1. 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^[1]:

     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.

2. (figuratively) Incomprehensible; fathomless; inscrutable.

   Business jargon makes this document impenetrable, I can't understand it.

3. 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

Translations

not penetrable

• Bulgarian: непроницаем (bg) (nepronicaem), непроходим (bg) (neprohodim)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不能通过的, 不能渗透的

• Czech: neproniknutelný m, nedobytný
• Dutch: ondoordringbaar (nl)
• Finnish: läpitunkematon
• French: impénétrable (fr)
• German: undurchlässig
• Greek: αδιαπέραστος (el) m (adiapérastos)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: impenetrābilis, invius
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ugjennomtrengelig

  Nynorsk: ugjennomtrengeleg, ugjennomtrengjeleg

• Romanian: impenetrabil (ro), de nepătruns, de nestrăpuns
• Russian: (impermeable) непроница́емый (ru) (nepronicájemyj), непроходи́мый (ru) (neproxodímyj)
• Spanish: impenetrable
• Ukrainian: непроникний (nepronyknyj)

incomprehensible; inscrutable

• Bulgarian: неразбираем (bg) (nerazbiraem)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 难以理解的, 费解的

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Czech: nesrozumitelný
• Dutch: onbegrijpelijk (nl)

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Spanish

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin impenetrabilis.

Adjective

impenetrable m or f (masculine and feminine plural impenetrables)

1. impenetrable
   • 1867, Cesare Cantù, Historia universal, 8, page 118:

     como una muralla impenetrable

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)