impossible

English

Alternative forms

• inpossible (obsolete)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French impossible, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin impossibilis, from in- (“not”) + possibilis (“possible”), from possum (“to be able”) + suffix -ibilis (“-able”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɒsɪbəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: im‧pos‧si‧ble

Adjective

impossible (comparative more impossible, superlative most impossible)

1. Not possible; not able to be done or happen.
   • 1610-11?, Shakespeare, The Tempest, 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, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

     Nothing is impossible, only impassible.

   • 13 March 1962, John F. Kennedy

     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!

3. (mathematics, dated) imaginary

   impossible quantities, or imaginary numbers

Synonyms

• unpossible (rare)

Antonyms

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

Derived terms

• impossibility
• 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
• Belarusian: немагчы́мы (njemahčýmy), немажлі́вы (njemažlívy)
• Bulgarian: невъзмо́жен (bg) (nevǎzmóžen)
• 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: please add this translation if you can
• 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: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 불가능하다 (ko) (bulganeunghada)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: neiespējams m, neiespējama f
• Lithuanian: neįmanoma
• Macedonian: невозможен (nevozmožen)
• Malay: mustahil (ms)
• Manx: neuchredjallagh
• Maori: tē-taea
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: împôssibl'ye m or f
• Old English: unmihtlīċ
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• 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 (sh)

• Slovak: nemožný
• Slovene: nemogoč (sl) m, nemogoča f, nemogoče n
• Spanish: imposible (es)
• Swedish: omöjlig (sv), ogörlig, orealiserbar
• Tagalog: di-sapala
• 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)
• Westrobothnian: ,

very difficult to deal with

• Asturian: imposible, insoportable
• 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)
• Hungarian: lehetetlen (hu), nehéz (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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 (sh), nepodnòšljiv (sh), neizdr̀živ (sh)

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

never happening

• 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)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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. (obsolete) an impossibility
   • Late 14th century: “Madame,” quod he, “this were an impossible!” — Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales

Translations

an impossibility

• Arabic: مُسْتَحِيل (mustaḥīl)
• Catalan: impossible (ca)
• Danish: umulighed
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: ακατόρθωτο (el) n (akatórthoto)
• Italian: impossibile m (2)
• Spanish: imposible (es) m

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin impossibilis, equivalent to in- +‎ possible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [im.puˈsib.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [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, 2024
• “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.

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French

Etymology

From im- +‎ possible.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pɔ.sibl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

impossible (plural impossibles)

1. impossible

Further reading

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

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Middle French

Adjective

impossible m or f (plural impossibles)

1. impossible