IMPOSSIBLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does impossible mean? 

• IMPOSSIBLE (noun)
  The noun IMPOSSIBLE has 1 sense:

1. something that cannot be done

  Familiarity information: IMPOSSIBLE used as a noun is very rare.

• IMPOSSIBLE (adjective)
  The adjective IMPOSSIBLE has 3 senses:

1. not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with

2. totally unlikely

3. (used of persons or their behavior) not acceptable or reasonable

  Familiarity information: IMPOSSIBLE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPOSSIBLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that cannot be done

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

his assignment verged on the impossible

Hypernyms ("impossible" is a kind of...):

impossibility; impossible action (an alternative that is not available)

• IMPOSSIBLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with

Context example:

an impossible situation

Similar:

hopeless (certain to fail)

impracticable; infeasible; unfeasible; unworkable (not capable of being carried out or put into practice)

out (not worth considering as a possibility)

unachievable; unattainable; undoable; unrealizable (impossible to achieve)

Also:

hopeless (without hope because there seems to be no possibility of comfort or success)

impractical (not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters)

unrealistic (not realistic)

insurmountable; unsurmountable (not capable of being surmounted or overcome)

unthinkable (incapable of being conceived or considered)

Attribute:

possibility; possibleness (capability of existing or happening or being true)

Antonym:

possible (capable of happening or existing)

Derivation:

impossibility; impossibleness (incapability of existing or occurring)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Totally unlikely

Synonyms:

impossible; inconceivable; out of the question; unimaginable

Similar:

unthinkable (incapable of being conceived or considered)

Derivation:

impossibleness (incapability of existing or occurring)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(used of persons or their behavior) not acceptable or reasonable

Synonyms:

impossible; unacceptable

Context example:

impossible behavior

Similar:

intolerable; unbearable; unendurable (incapable of being tolerated or endured)

 Context examples 

It is quite too transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is absurd, impossible, preposterous to anyone who knew him.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The situation was fast becoming impossible.

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

The engagement which ought to have kept her from joining in the former attempt would make it impossible for her to accompany them now.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I have such innumerable presents from him that it is quite impossible for me to value or for him to remember half.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It represents a proliferation of the infundibular epithelium of the hair follicle and its morphologic distinction from a well differentiated carcinoma may be difficult or impossible.

(Keratoacanthoma, NCI Thesaurus)

It seems to me impossible sometimes that they ever had mothers.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The stab was on the right side of the neck and from behind forward, so that it is almost impossible that it could have been self-inflicted.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In cases in which it is impossible to prove clonality and there is no increase in blast cells, the diagnosis of "idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome" is preferred.

(Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia, Not Otherwise Specified, NCI Thesaurus/WHO)

To guess what all this meant, was impossible even for Emma.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)