impracticable

/ɪmˈpɹaktɪkəb(ə)l/

impracticable adjective: not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice.

Adjective

impracticable (comparative more impracticable, superlative most impracticable)

Not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice.
- It has not been used for many years, and although it was impracticable to photograph the engine in the small confines of the shed it was possible to obtain a picture of the plate which it still carries showing the former ownership.1952 February, H. C. Casserley, “Permanent Wayfarings”, in Railway Magazine, page 77
- Prison abolitionists are dismissed as utopians and idealists whose ideas are at best unrealistic and impracticable, and, at worst, mystifying and foolish. This is a measure of how difficult it is to envision a social order that does not rely on the threat of sequestering people in dreadful places...2003, Angela Y. Davis, chapter 1, in Are Prisons Obsolete?, archived from the original on 19 May 2023, pages 9-10
Antonyms:

practicable
impassable (of a passage or road)
(obsolete) unmanageable
- And yet this tough impracticable heart / Is govern'd by a dainty-finger'd girl ; […]1713, Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent, published 1797
- H. is a person of extraordinary health & vigor, of unerring perception, & equal expression; and yet he is impracticable, and does not flow through his pen or (in any of our legitimate aqueducts) through his tongue.c. 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks, published 1960, page 18

impracticable (plural impracticables)

(obsolete) an unmanageable person
- They were not allowed, of course, to join us in the sitting room, partly that their practice might not be disturbed, but principally, that I was looked upon as an utter impracticable.1829, Henry Barkley Henderson, The Bengalee, or Sketches of Society and Manners in the East, page 13
- The strict constructionists had dwindled to a few impracticables, headed by John Randolph.1867, James Parton, Famous Americans of Recent Times, page 83

செயற்படுத்த முடியாத நடைமுறைக் கொவ்வாத, செயல் முறைக்கியலாத, செயல்படுத்த இயலாத, செய்ய முடியாத, நடைமுறைக்காகாத

impracticable; impossible to accomplish or achieve: असाध्य asādhya
impracticable, unattainable, or impossible to accomplish or carry out: असाध्नीय asādhnīya

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From im- + practicable.

What does impracticable mean?: Impracticable means not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice.
What is impracticable in Hindi?: Impracticable in Hindi is असहज (ashaj). See Impracticable meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is impracticable?: Impracticable can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce impracticable?: Impracticable is pronounced /ɪmˈpɹaktɪkəb(ə)l/ (UK).

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-impracticable.wav.

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