impracticable

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
Their least dangerous effect is to lead to prescribing the impracticable, as if ordering the impracticable were not really an attack on discipline, and did not result in disconcerting officers and men by the unexpected and by surprise at the contrast between battle and the theories of peace-time training Battle of course always furnishes surprises.

View all »
Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Impossible to do or carry out: Refloating the sunken ship intact proved impracticable because of its fragility.
  2. adjective Unfit for passage: roads impracticable in winter.
  3. adjective Archaic Unmanageable; intractable.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • On one occasion when the Treasury clerks told him that some required mode of making up the accounts was impracticable, they were met with the curt reply: "Never mind, if you can't do it, I'll send you half-a-dozen pay sergeants that will,"--a hint that they did not fail to take MCXCVII.--A "DISTANT" FRIEND MEETING a negro on the road, a traveller said, "You have lost some of your friends, I see?" —  The Jest Book The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings
  • Systems of primary and secondary schools are impracticable, and, for want of these, institutions of higher education either languish or are never begun. —  A History of American Christianity
  • Resistance was impracticable, and none was attempted; the militia surrendered, and were confined as prisoners; but prisoners of what? —  The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government
  • It was found impracticable, and our present form of government was adopted, which acts upon individuals, and is not designed to act upon States. —  The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government
  • It seemed not impracticable--she clambered down Hist! —  Sketches
 

Tags

impracticable hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 101 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French impraticable = Spanish impracticable = Portuguese impraticavel = Italian impraticabile; as in- + practicable.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/ɪmˈpræktɪkəbl/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a week.

Recently looked up

elasticity · pree · traits · narcoleptic · whodunit

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

minty-fresh death threat · please stop sucking the monkeybread · beauregard · unicycle hockey · Ipanema