imponderable

[ im-pon-der-uh-buhl ]

adjective

1. not ponderable; that cannot be precisely determined, measured, or evaluated.

noun

1. an imponderable thing, force, agency, etc.

imponderable

/ -drəbəl; ɪmˈpɒndərəbəl /

adjective

1. unable to be weighed or assessed

noun

1. something difficult or impossible to assess

Derived Forms

• imˈponderably, adverb
• imˌponderaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• im·ponder·a·bili·ty im·ponder·a·ble·ness noun
• im·ponder·a·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of imponderable¹

From the Medieval Latin word imponderābilis, dating back to 1785–95. See im- ², ponderable

Example Sentences

Descartes suggested a nearly imponderable solution, in which motion is just a shifting of the relative positions of objects, and the invisible object that we call space, along their shared surfaces.

From Nautilus

What Warhol gives us is magnificently imponderable, as normal things (such as urinals) are in the world.

From The Daily Beast

There were, Caro said, regions of ether too subtle to sustain even so imponderable a poet as Mr. Prothero.

From Project Gutenberg

Every letter which came from the absent sister did inclose some imponderable unmounted photograph, with comments.

From Project Gutenberg

We are in the present day upon the trace of a great many important facts relating to the imponderable agencies employed in nature.

From Project Gutenberg

Is or is not that which is called magnetic effluvia a something, a stuff or a substance, invisible and imponderable though it be?

From Project Gutenberg

It had simply affected his imagination, which was a consequence of the imponderable sort.

From Project Gutenberg