impossible

Syllables: im·pos·si·bleUK/ɪmˈpɒs.ɪ.bəl//ɪmˈpɑ.sə.bəl/

impossible adjective: not possible; not able to be done or happen.

Adjective

impossible (not generally comparable, comparative more impossible, superlative most impossible)

(not comparable, usually) Not possible; not able to be done or happen.
- Antonio: What impossible matter will he make easy next?
  Sebastian: I think he will carry this island home in his pocket and give it his son for an apple.
  Antonio : And sowing the kernels of it in the sea bring forth more islands.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- It was impoſſible that the queen of France [Marie Antoinette] ſhould not be deeply affected by a conteſt, which ſo cloſely involved her neareſt and deareſt connections, and threatened ſo immediate and perhaps irreparable a breach of the harmony and friendſhip ſubſiſting between them.1787, “The History of Europe”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Years 1784 and 1785, volume XXVII, London: Printed by J[ames] Dodsley, in Pall-Mall...
(colloquial, not comparable, usually) Very difficult to deal with.
- You never listen to a word I say – you're impossible!
- This humidity is impossible.
(dated, not comparable, usually) imaginary
- impossible quantities, or imaginary numbers

Noun

impossible (plural impossibles)

An impossibility.
- In fact, to most people, the real impossibles do not seem impossible, or wonderful, or even difficult at all.1888 November, Joseph Le Conte, “The Problem of a Flying-Machine”, in The Popular Science Monthly, volume 34, page 70
- “Ye can't expect impossibles, and Jim hadn't no idee o' takin' yer trunk along of him in ther buggy when he kem hyar this mornin'.1890, Jean Kate Ludlum, At Brown's: An Adirondack Story, page 15
A skateboard trick consisting of a backflip performed in midair.

impossible meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

impossible in Hindi

not able to be done: असंभव or असम्भव asambhav, नामुमकिन nāmumkin, अनहोनी anhonī

impossible in Tamil

இயலாத, முடியாத, அசாத்தியமான, சாத்தியம், அசாத்தியம்

impossible in Marathi

not able to be done: अशक्य aśakya

impossible in Urdu

not able to be done: اسمبھو asambhav, ناممکن nāmumkin, ان ہونی an honī

More languagesFewer languages

impossible in Bengali: অঘটনীয় ôghôṭôniẏô
impossible in Telugu: అసాధ్యము asādhyamu
impossible in Malayalam: അസാധ്യ asādhya, അസാധ്യം asādhyaṁ
impossible in Kannada: ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ asādhya
impossible in Punjabi: ਅਸੰਭਵ, ਅਸੰਭਵ ਹੈ
impossible in Gujarati: અશક્ય aśakya
impossible in Odia: ଅସମ୍ଭବ
impossible in Nepali: असम्भव asambhav
impossible in Tagalog: di-sapala
impossible in Arabic: مُسْتَحِيل mustaḥīl
impossible in Malay: mustahil
impossible in Indonesian: mustahil
impossible in Persian: غیرممکن ġeyr-e-momken
impossible in Thai: เป็นไปไม่ได้ bpen-bpai-mâi-dâi
impossible in Vietnamese: không thể, bất khả thi

Examples of impossible in a sentence

It is difficult, if not impossible, to memorize 20,000 consecutive numbers.
Sarah thinks that nothing is impossible because things can always somehow happen.
When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:
For one thing, the Gospel's moral impossibles appear, in this light, not as an objection to Christianity, but as one of its most striking evidences.1903, Jonathan Brierley, Problems of Living, page 16:
Yes, the church lives for impossibles, and she lives by impossibles, and if she shrinks from impossibles her own vigor will shrink and die.1911, J. H. Jowett, “Turning Back”, in Homiletic Review, volume 61, page 392:
Aristotle (1952), in his Nicomachean Ethics, described the relation between will and choice: a Choice cannot relate to impossibles, and if anyone said he chose them he would be thought silly;2000, Kenneth D. Keith, Robert L. Schalock, Cross-cultural Perspectives on Quality of Life, page 292:

All 40 example sentences with impossible

Synonyms of impossible

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of impossible

Forms of impossible

Adjective
comparative	more impossible
superlative	most impossible
alternative form (obsolete)	inpossible
Noun
plural	impossibles

Origin of impossible

From Middle English impossible, equivalent to im- + possible.

Words formed from impossible

Phrases with impossible

6 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about impossible

What does impossible mean?: Impossible means not possible; not able to be done or happen.
What is impossible in Hindi?: Impossible in Hindi is असंभव or असम्भव (asambhav), नामुमकिन (nāmumkin), अनहोनी (anhonī). See Impossible meaning in Hindi.
How do you use impossible in a sentence?: It is difficult, if not impossible, to memorize 20,000 consecutive numbers.
What part of speech is impossible?: Impossible can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce impossible?: Impossible is pronounced /ɪmˈpɒs.ɪ.bəl/ (UK).

Words near impossible in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: impossible (page history and authors); impossible (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অঘটনীয় (Bengali) (page history and authors); అసాధ్యము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ (Kannada) (page history and authors); impossible (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); અશક્ય (Gujarati) (page history and authors); impossible (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-impossible.ogg.

Cite this entry: “impossible.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/impossible. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.