impalpable

[im-pal-puh-buhl]

adjective

1. not palpable; incapable of being perceived by the sense of touch; intangible.

2. difficult for the mind to grasp readily or easily.

   impalpable distinctions.

3. (of powder) so fine that when rubbed between the fingers no grit is felt.

impalpable

/ ɪmˈpælpəbəl /

adjective

1. imperceptible, esp to the touch

   impalpable shadows

2. difficult to understand; abstruse

Other Word Forms

• impalpability noun
• impalpably adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of impalpable¹

First recorded in 1500–10; im- ² + palpable

Example Sentences

“Many physicists did not like it because they called it impalpable and a little bit mystical,” Nesteruk told Salon in a phone interview.

Read more on Salon

Through their lenses, we see different visions of the artist in his studio, surrounded by his attempts to capture something solid but impalpable about humanity.

Read more on Seattle Times

But how the squishy, pinkish-gray, wrinkled mass of the physical brain gives rise to these impalpable experiences remains a mystery.

Read more on Scientific American

Afterward, as in Vienna, property relations were forever altered, which had an impalpable but unmistakable effect on attitudes.

Read more on New York Times

The smell and taste of things, Proust wrote, hold in the “tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence the vast structure of recollection.”

Read more on New York Times