impossible

English

Alternative forms

• inpossible (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English impossible.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɒs.ɪ.bəl/, /ɪmˈpɒs.ə.bəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɑ.sə.bl̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: im‧pos‧si‧ble

Adjective

impossible (not comparable)

1. Not possible; not able to be done or happen.
   • 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]:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

   • 1865 November (indicated as 1866), Lewis Carroll [pseudonym; Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

     Nothing is impossible, only impassible.

   • 13 March 1962, John F. Kennedy, speech at the White House

     Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     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.

   It is difficult, if not impossible, to memorize 20,000 consecutive numbers.

   Sarah thinks that nothing is impossible because things can always somehow happen.

2. (colloquial, of a person) Very difficult to deal with.

   You never listen to a word I say – you're impossible!

   2006, Amanda Palmer (lyrics and music), “Delilah”, in Yes, Virginia..., performed by The Dresden Dolls:

   I never met a more impossible girl.

3. (mathematics, dated) imaginary

   impossible quantities, or imaginary numbers

Synonyms

• nonpossible (nonstandard)
• unhappenable (rare)
• unpossible (rare)

Antonyms

• (not able to be done or happen): possible, inevitable

Derived terms

• impossibility
• impossible bottle
• impossible dream
• impossible event
• impossible pie
• impossible trinity
• impossibly
• mission impossible

 

Translations

not able to be done

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: مُسْتَحِيل‎ (mustaḥīl)

  Egyptian Arabic: محال‎ (muḥāl)

• Armenian: անհնար (hy) (anhnar)
• Asturian: imposible
• Azerbaijani: qeyri-mümkün, mümkünsüz, həyata keçirilməz, yerinə yetirilməz
• Belarusian: немагчы́мы (njemahčýmy), немажлі́вы (njemažlívy)
• Bulgarian: невъзмо́жен (bg) (nevǎzmóžen)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: impossible (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 冇可能嘅 (mou⁵ ho² nang⁴ ge³)

  Mandarin: 不可能的 (bù kěnéng de)

• Czech: nemožný (cs) m
• Danish: umuligt
• Dutch: onmogelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: neebla
• Estonian: võimatu
• Finnish: mahdoton (fi)
• French: impossible (fr)
• Galician: imposible (gl), imposíbel (gl)
• Georgian: შეუძლებელი (šeuʒlebeli)
• German: unmöglich (de)
• Greek: ακατόρθωτος (el) (akatórthotos)

  Ancient: ἀδύνατος m (adúnatos)

• Hebrew: בלתי־אפשרי‎ m (biltí-efsharí)
• Hindi: असंभव (hi) (asambhav) or असम्भव (hi) (asambhav), नामुमकिन (hi) (nāmumkin), अनहोनी (hi) (anhonī)
• Hungarian: lehetetlen (hu)
• Icelandic: ómögulegur (is)
• Ido: neposibla (io)
• Interlingua: impossibile
• Italian: impossibile (it)
• Japanese: 不可能な (ja) (fukanō na), 無理な (ja) (muri na)
• Khmer: មិនអាចទៅរួច (mɨn ʼaac tɨw ruəc)
• Korean: 불가능하다 (ko) (bulganeunghada)
• Kyrgyz: мүмкүнсүз (mümkünsüz)
• Latvian: neiespējams m, neiespējama f
• Lithuanian: neįmanoma
• Macedonian: невозможен (nevozmožen)
• Malay: mustahil (ms)
• Malayalam: അസാധ്യ (ml) (asādhya)
• Manx: neuchredjallagh
• Maori: tē-taea
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: असम्भव (ne) (asambhav)
• Norman: împôssibl'ye m or f
• Northern Sami: veadjemeahttun
• Norwegian: umulig (no)
• Old English: unmihtlīċ
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: ommäajlich
• Polish: niemożliwy (pl)
• Portuguese: impossível (pt)
• Romanian: imposibil (ro)
• Romansch: nunpussaivel
• Russian: невозмо́жный (ru) (nevozmóžnyj), невыполнимый (ru) (nevypolnimyj), неосуществи́мый (ru) (neosuščestvímyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: do-dhèanta
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: немогућ

  Roman: nȅmogūć

• Slovak: nemožný
• Slovene: nemogoč (sl) m, nemogoča f, nemogoče n
• Spanish: imposible (es)
• Swedish: omöjlig (sv), ogörlig, orealiserbar
• Tagalog: di-sapala
• Tarifit: muḥar m
• Thai: เป็นไปไม่ได้
• Turkish: olanaksız (tr), imkânsız (tr)
• Ukrainian: неможли́вий (nemožlývyj)
• Urdu: اسمبھو‎ (asambhav), ناممکن‎ (nāmumkin), ان ہونی‎ (an honī)
• Vietnamese: không thể (vi)
• Welsh: amhosibl (cy)

very difficult to deal with

• Asturian: imposible, insoportable
• Azerbaijani: qeyri-mümkün
• Bulgarian: неосъществим (bg) (neosǎštestvim), неизпълним (bg) (neizpǎlnim)
• Catalan: impossible (ca), insuportable
• Czech: nemožný (cs) m
• Danish: umulig (da)
• Finnish: mahdoton (fi), kauhea (fi), kamala (fi)
• French: insupportable (fr), impossible (fr)
• German: unmöglich (de)
• Greek: αδύνατο (el) (adýnato), αφόρητο (el) (afórito), απειλητικό (el) (apeilitikó), ανίσχυρο (el) (aníschyro), ανέφικτο (el) (anéfikto)
• Hungarian: lehetetlen (hu), nehéz (hu)
• Interlingua: insupportabile
• Italian: insopportabile (it), impossibile (it)
• Portuguese: impossível (pt), insuportável (pt)
• Russian: нереальный (ru) (nerealʹnyj), невозмо́жный (ru) (nevozmóžnyj), невыполнимый (ru) (nevypolnimyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: nȅmogūć, nepodnòšljiv (sh), neizdr̀živ (sh)

• Slovene: nemogoč (sl) m, nemogoča f, nemogoče n
• Spanish: insoportable (es)
• Swedish: omöjlig (sv)

never happening

• Azerbaijani: qeyri-mümkün
• Bulgarian: невероятен (bg) (neverojaten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不會發生／不会发生 (Bù huì fāshēng)

• Danish: umuligt
• French: impossible (fr)
• German: unmöglich (de)
• Italian: impossibile (it)
• Japanese: 不可能な (ja) (fukanō na), ありえない (arienai)
• Polish: niemożliwy (pl)
• Portuguese: impossível (pt)
• Russian: несбыточный (ru) (nesbytočnyj), недостижи́мый (ru) (nedostižímyj)
• Spanish: imposible (es)

Noun

impossible (plural impossibles)

1. An impossibility.
   • 1888 November, Joseph Le Conte, “The Problem of a Flying-Machine”, in The Popular Science Monthly, volume 34, page 70:

     In fact, to most people, the real impossibles do not seem impossible, or wonderful, or even difficult at all.

   • 1890, Jean Kate Ludlum, At Brown's: An Adirondack Story, page 15:

     “Ye can't expect impossibles, and Jim hadn't no idee o' takin' yer trunk along of him in ther buggy when he kem hyar this mornin'.

   • 1903, Jonathan Brierley, Problems of Living, page 16:

     For one thing, the Gospel's moral impossibles appear, in this light, not as an objection to Christianity, but as one of its most striking evidences.

   • 1911, J. H. Jowett, “Turning Back”, in Homiletic Review, volume 61, page 392:

     Yes, the church lives for impossibles, and she lives by impossibles, and if she shrinks from impossibles her own vigor will shrink and die.

   • 2000, Kenneth D. Keith, Robert L. Schalock, Cross-cultural Perspectives on Quality of Life, page 292:

     Aristotle (1952), in his Nicomachean Ethics, described the relation between will and choice: a Choice cannot relate to impossibles, and if anyone said he chose them he would be thought silly;

   • 2010, The Journal of Parliamentary Information - Volume 56, page 20:

     Dreams are made out of impossibles. We cannot reach the impossibles by using the analytical minds which are trained to deal with hard information which is currently available.

2. A skateboard trick consisting of a backflip performed in midair.

Translations

an impossibility

• Arabic: مُسْتَحِيل‎ (mustaḥīl)
• Catalan: impossible (ca)
• Danish: umulighed
• Greek: ακατόρθωτο (el) n (akatórthoto), αδύνατο (el) (adýnato), αδιανόητο (el) (adianóito)
• Italian: impossibile (it) m (2)
• Malayalam: അസാധ്യം (asādhyaṃ)
• Spanish: imposible (es) m

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin impossibilis, equivalent to in- +‎ possible.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /im.puˈsi.blə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /im.poˈsi.ble/

Adjective

impossible m or f (masculine and feminine plural impossibles)

1. impossible

   Antonym: possible

Derived terms

• impossiblement

Related terms

• impossibilitat

Further reading

• “impossible” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “impossible”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
• “impossible” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “impossible” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From im- +‎ possible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

impossible (plural impossibles)

1. impossible

Derived terms

• à cœur vaillant rien d'impossible
• à l'impossible nul n'est tenu
• faire l'impossible
• impossible n'est pas français
• impossiblement

Further reading

• “impossible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French impossible, from Latin impossibilis, from in- (“not”) + possibilis (“possible”).

Adjective

impossible

1. impossible
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Frankeleyns Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     Madame( {quod} he )thys were impossible

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

Middle French

Adjective

impossible m or f (plural impossibles)

1. impossible