impenetrable
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See also: impénétrable
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- (misspelling) inpenetrable
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English inpenetrabel, inpenetrabyle, from Middle French impenetrable or directly from its etymon, Latin impenetrābilis.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɛnətɹəbəl/, /ɪmˈpɛnɪtɹəbəl/
Audio (Southern England): (file) Audio (UK): (file)
- Hyphenation: im‧pen‧e‧tra‧ble
Adjective
[edit]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[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.
- (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
[edit]- (not penetrable): impregnable, unfathomable
- (incomprehensible): See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible
Antonyms
[edit]- (antonym(s) of “not penetrable”): penetrable, pregnable, fathomable
- (antonym(s) of “incomprehensible”): See also Thesaurus:comprehensible
See also
[edit]Noun
[edit]impenetrable (plural impenetrables)
- A person not openly given to friendship. (clarification of this definition is needed)
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XXVI. Lady Marchmont to Sir Jasper Meredith.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, 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.
Translations
[edit]not penetrable
|
incomprehensible; inscrutable
|
References
[edit]- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “impenetrable (adj.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Catalan
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin impenetrābilis.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]impenetrable m or f (masculine and feminine plural impenetrables)
Further reading
[edit]- “impenetrable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “impenetrable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
- “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
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Latin impenetrābilis.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]impenetrable m or f (masculine and feminine plural impenetrables)
- impenetrable
- 1867, Cesare Cantù, Historia universal, 8, page 118:
- como una muralla impenetrable
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Derived terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “impenetrable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pen-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 5-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan adjectives
- Catalan epicene adjectives
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish 5-syllable words
- Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Spanish/able
- Rhymes:Spanish/able/5 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish adjectives
- Spanish epicene adjectives
- Spanish terms with quotations