adjective
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not practical or workable
an impractical solution
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not given to practical matters or gifted with practical skills
he is intelligent but too impractical for commercial work
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of impractical
Explanation
Something impractical is difficult or impossible to achieve. It might sound like a great idea, but it's not going to happen. It's just not practical. Impractical ideas make no sense or just can’t be done. Heels so high you have a fish swimming in them are cool, but very impractical. Trying to drive from New York to California in four hours, which could never happen, is impractical. Something impractical is not likely to work. Practical ideas are feasible, but impractical ideas are based on wishful thinking. When someone tells you an idea is impractical, she’s saying, "Get real."
Vocabulary lists containing impractical
The Diary of Anne Frank
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Viewing Current Refugee Crisis Through an Anne Frank Lens
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gatto starred on Impractical Jokers - a hidden camera US comedy and reality show with improvisational elements - for nine seasons before leaving in 2021.
From BBC • Mar. 24, 2025
Impractical, those gave way to “line paintings,” roughly 5-foot-square monochrome canvases with a few thin, horizontal lines, carefully spaced so not all of them could be taken in at once.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2023
And though shows steeped in awkwardness and idiocy — a lá "Nathan For You", "The Rehearsal," and "Impractical Jokers" — have always triggered my second-hand embarrassment, I still find the cringey, hijinx-stuffed premises funny.
From Salon • Jun. 25, 2023
Boston’s Boch Center Wang Theater was forced to cancel two soldout shows by the Impractical Jokers when a sprinkler pipe in the boiler room burst at about 5 p.m.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 5, 2023
"Impractical" as her aunt had proclaimed her, she proved the contrary very quickly.
From Little Miss By-The-Day by Van Slyke, Lucille
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
