IMPRACTICAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does impractical mean? 

• IMPRACTICAL (adjective)
  The adjective IMPRACTICAL has 2 senses:

1. not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters

2. not practical or realizable; speculative

  Familiarity information: IMPRACTICAL used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMPRACTICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters

Context example:

an impractical solution

Similar:

crazy; half-baked; screwball; softheaded (foolish; totally unsound)

meshuga; meshugga; meshugge; meshuggeneh; meshuggener (senseless; crazy)

quixotic; romantic; wild-eyed (not sensible about practical matters; idealistic and unrealistic)

unfunctional (not related to or suitable for everyday needs or activities)

unwieldy (difficult to work or manipulate)

Also:

impossible (not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with)

unrealistic (not realistic)

Attribute:

practicality (concerned with actual use rather than theoretical possibilities)

Antonym:

practical (concerned with actual use or practice)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Not practical or realizable; speculative

Synonyms:

airy; impractical; Laputan; visionary; windy

Context example:

visionary schemes for getting rich

Similar:

utopian (characterized by or aspiring to impracticable perfection)

Derivation:

impracticality (concerned with theoretical possibilities rather than actual use)

 Context examples 

Often, this is impractical for leg measurements.

(New portable device to gauge severity of elephantiasis, SciDev.Net)

He is impractical.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Currently, the only ways to activate brown fat are to put people in the cold to mimic hibernation, which is both impractical and unpleasant, or to treat them with drugs known as adrenergic agonists, but these can cause heart attacks.

(Study in mice suggests drug to turn fat ‘brown’ could help fight obesity, University of Cambridge)