Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Impracticable
Im-prac′ti-ca-ble
,Adj.
1.
Not practicable; incapable of being performed, or accomplished by the means employed, or at command; impossible;
as, an
. impracticable
undertaking2.
Not to be overcome, persuaded, or controlled by any reasonable method; unmanageable; intractable; not capable of being easily dealt with; – used in a general sense, as applied to a person or thing that is difficult to control or get along with.
This though,
Is governed by a dainty-fingered girl.
impracticable
heartIs governed by a dainty-fingered girl.
Rowe.
Patriotic but loyal men went away disgusted afresh with the
impracticable
arrogance of a sovereign. Palfrey.
Syn. – Impossible; infeasible. –
Impracticable
, Impossible
. A thing is impracticable when it can not be accomplished by any human means at present possessed; a thing is impossible when the laws of nature forbid it. The navigation of a river may now be impracticable, but not impossible, because the existing obstructions may yet be removed. “The barons exercised the most despotic authority over their vassals, and every scheme of public utility was rendered impracticable by their continued petty wars with each other.” Mickle.
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matt. xix. 26.
Definition 2024
impracticable
impracticable
English
Adjective
impracticable (comparative more impracticable, superlative most impracticable)
- Not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice.
- Of a passage or road: impassable.
- (obsolete) Of a person or thing: unmanageable.
- 1713, Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent, published 1797:
- And yet this tough impracticable heart / Is govern'd by a dainty-finger'd girl ; […]
- c. 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks, published 1960, page 18:
- H. is a person of extraordinary health & vigor, of unerring perception, & equal expression; and yet he is impracticable, and does not flow through his pen or (in any of our legitimate aqueducts) through his tongue.
-
Antonyms
- (impossible or difficult in practice): practicable
Derived terms
Translations
not practicable
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impassable
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Noun
impracticable (plural impracticables)
- (obsolete) An unmanageable person.
- 1867, James Parton, Famous Americans of Recent Times, page 83:
- The strict constructionists had dwindled to a few impracticables, headed by John Randolph.
- 1870, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude, page 187:
- Then there are the gladiators, to whom it is always a battle ; 'tis no matter on which side, they fight for victory; then the heady men, the egotists, the monotones, the steriles, and the impracticables.