impossibility

impossibility
I
(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)
Lack of possibility
Nouns
1. impossibility, what can never be; hopelessness; impracticability, infeasibility, insuperability. Informal, no go. Slang, fat chance, Chinaman's chance, snowball's chance in hell.
2. impossible task, the impossible, what cannot be.
Verbs — have no chance; square the circle, skin a flint, make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, make bricks without straw, build castles in the air; bite off more than one can chew; be in two places at once; ask or cry for the moon, promise or give the moon. Slang, milk a duck.
Adjectives — impossible; absurd, contrary to reason (see absurdity); unreasonable, incredible (see doubt); visionary, inconceivable (see improbability); unimaginable, unthinkable, impracticable, impractical, unachievable, unfeasible, unworkable, insuperable, insurmountable; unattainable, unobtainable, out of reach; out of the question; desperate, hopeless; out of print; inaccessible, impassable, impervious, unnavigable, inextricable, ineluctable, etc. Slang, in a pig's eye.
Adverbs — impossibly, etc.; when hell freezes over, when pigs fly.
Phrases — pigs may fly, but they are very unlikely birds; tell it to the marines.
Quotations — Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities (Aristotle), The difficult we do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer ( U. S. Armed Forces), Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast (Lewis Carroll), If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible he is almost certainly right, but if he says that it is impossible he is very probably wrong (Arthur C. Clarke), To dream the impossible dream, to reach the unreachable star! (Joe Darion).
Antonyms, see possibility.
II
(Roget's IV) n.
Syn. hopelessness, unattainability, unreasonableness, contrariety, impracticality, unfeasibility, impracticability, difficulty, unlikelihood, failure, unworkability; see also futility .
Ant. probability*, feasibility, practicality.

English dictionary for students. 2013.

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  • impossibility — im·pos·si·bil·i·ty n pl ties 1: the quality or state of being impossible; also: the affirmative defense that something (as performance) is impossible 2: something impossible 3: impossibility of performance in this entry fac·tu·al impossibili …   Law dictionary

  • Impossibility — Im*pos si*bil i*ty, n.; pl. {Impossibilities}. [L. impossibilitas: cf. F. impossibilit[ e].] 1. The quality of being impossible; impracticability. [1913 Webster] They confound difficulty with impossibility. South. [1913 Webster] 2. An impossible… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • impossibility — (n.) late 14c., quality of being impossible, from IMPOSSIBLE (Cf. impossible) + ITY (Cf. ity); perhaps from or modeled on Fr. impossibilité. Meaning an impossible thing or occurrence is from c.1500 …   Etymology dictionary

  • impossibility — [im päs΄ə bil′i tē] n. [OFr impossibilite < LL impossibilitas] 1. the fact or quality of being impossible 2. pl. impossibilities something impossible …   English World dictionary

  • Impossibility — (Roget s Thesaurus) < N PARAG:Impossibility >N GRP: N 1 Sgm: N 1 impossibility impossibility &c. >Adj. Sgm: N 1 what cannot what cannot what can never be Sgm: N 1 sour grapes sour grapes Sgm: N 1 hopelessness hopelessness &c. 859 P …   English dictionary for students

  • impossibility — That which, in the constitution and course of nature or the law, no person can do or perform. Impossibility is of the following several sorts: An act is physically impossible when it is contrary to the course of nature. Such an impossibility may… …   Black's law dictionary

  • impossibility — That which, in the constitution and course of nature or the law, no person can do or perform. Impossibility is of the following several sorts: An act is physically impossible when it is contrary to the course of nature. Such an impossibility may… …   Black's law dictionary

  • impossibility — UK [ɪmˌpɒsəˈbɪlətɪ] / US [ɪmˌpɑsəˈbɪlətɪ] noun [countable/uncountable] Word forms impossibility : singular impossibility plural impossibilities the fact of being impossible, or something that is impossible to do Working from home would be an… …   English dictionary

  • Impossibility — In contract law, impossibility is an excuse for the nonperformance of duties under a contract, based on a change in circumstances (or the discovery of preexisting circumstances), the nonoccurrence of which was an underlying assumption of the… …   Wikipedia

  • impossibility — im|pos|si|bil|i|ty [ ım,pasə bıləti ] noun count or uncount the fact of being impossible, or something that is impossible to do: Working from home would be an impossibility. the impossibility of finding suitable work …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • impossibility — That which is impossible. See impossibility of performance; impossible; physical impossibility …   Ballentine's law dictionary

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