Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Impossible to overcome; insurmountable: insuperable odds.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Not superable; incapable of being passed over, overcome, or surmounted.
- Synonyms Insurmountable, impassable, unconquerable, invincible.
Wiktionary
- adj. Impossible to achieve or overcome or be negotiated.
- adj. Overwhelming or insurmountable.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Incapable of being passed over or surmounted; insurmountable.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. incapable of being surmounted or excelled
- adj. impossible to surmount
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin īnsuperābilis : in-, not; see in-1 + superābilis, superable; see superable.
Examples
“He recalled the insuperable aversion the old man had ever entertained to approach of even make mention of the spot, and greatly did he blame himself for having persisted in offering a violence to his nature, the extent of which had been made so fearfully obvious.”
The Canadian Brothers, or the Prophecy Fulfilled a Tale of the Late American War — Complete
“Do you happen to think of any more 'insuperable' obstacles, my dear sir? ”
“But we also know that unity can be and has been attained among men of the most disparate origins, that differences of race, of religion, of culture, of tradition, are no insuperable obstacle to the coming together of peoples.”
The Huffington Post: Alemayehu G. Mariam: Referendum for Sudan, Requiem for Africa
“I left the house, the horrid scene of the last night's contention, and walked on the beach of the sea, which I almost regarded as an insuperable barrier between me and my fellow-creatures; nay, a wish that such should prove the fact stole across me.”
“If persistence, talent, and dogged hard work in the face of nearly insuperable obstacles qualifies one for stardom, these students get billing above the title.”
The Huffington Post: Neil Zevnik: Rolling Out the Red Carpet: A Different Hollywood Tale
“I would hope so, but Robert Bryce argues carbon capture has substantial — perhaps insuperable — economic obstacles to overcome.”
“This inability closes his mind to a great part of the debate, and so makes his atheist faith insuperable for as long as he himself chooses to accept it.”
“The statement confirmed something that many Mideast watchers have suspected for a long time: that the settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas, but with Obama -- who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote.”
The Washington Post: How Obama sabotaged Middle East peace talks
“Sakai noted, sadly, that the B-29 Superfortress was simply “insuperable.””
“There is no insuperable Mason-Dixon line separating a wholly Muslim North from a wholly Christian South.”
The Huffington Post: Howard F. Jeter: Nigeria on the Brink: A Rejoinder
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘insuperable’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Desultory Digressions
Also known as EsotericWench's Word Holding Tank. These are words that have caught my fancy but I have yet to file in the appropriate list. If I don't capture them here, I won't capture them at all.
desultory, abjure, immethodical, mentalist, subvertising, schmaltzy, fartlek, interstitial, ear-rent, brouhaha, crufty, malefactor and 34 more...
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