IMPERVIOUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does impervious mean? 

• IMPERVIOUS (adjective)
  The adjective IMPERVIOUS has 1 sense:

1. not admitting of passage or capable of being affected

  Familiarity information: IMPERVIOUS used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPERVIOUS (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not admitting of passage or capable of being affected

Synonyms:

imperviable; impervious

Context example:

someone impervious to argument

Similar:

fast (resistant to destruction or fading)

acid-fast (not easily decolorized by acid solutions; pertains to micro-organisms (especially the tubercle bacillus that causes tuberculosis))

colorfast (having color that is resistant to fading or running)

greaseproof (resistant to penetration by grease or oil or wax)

moth-resistant; mothproof (resistant to damage by moths)

proof ((used in combination or as a suffix) able to withstand)

resistant (impervious to being affected)

corrosion-resistant (impervious to corrosion)

rot-resistant (resistant to rotting)

ladder-proof; run-resistant; runproof ((of hosiery) resistant to runs or (in Britain) ladders)

soundproof (impervious to, or not penetrable by, sound)

Also:

impermeable (preventing especially liquids to pass or diffuse through)

Antonym:

pervious (admitting of passage or entrance)

Derivation:

imperviousness (the quality of being impenetrable (by people or light or missiles etc.))

 Context examples 

It was impervious to a blow of the pick.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Master Micawber was hardly visible in a Guernsey shirt, and the shaggiest suit of slops I ever saw; and the children were done up, like preserved meats, in impervious cases.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Before, dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, impervious to my touch or sight; but I now found that I could wander on at liberty, with no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)