impassable
Americanadjective
-
not passable; not allowing passage over, through, along, etc..
Heavy snow made the roads impassable.
-
unable to be surmounted.
an impassable obstacle to further negotiations.
-
(of currency) unable to be circulated.
He tore the bill in half, making it impassable.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- impassability noun
- impassableness noun
- impassably adverb
Etymology
Origin of impassable
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.
Amazon plans 200 rural hubs covering 13,000 ZIP Codes across 1.2 million square miles, facing challenges like impassable roads.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026
"The longer the Strait is impassable, the tighter commodity supply will become, thus the higher prices will likely go, and the greater the inflationary impulse that will follow."
From Barron's • Mar. 16, 2026
It’s tucked in an old-growth redwood tree in the backcountry of the park, in Humboldt County, where there are no roads and a creek presents an impassable barrier, Williams-Claussen said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 5, 2026
She likens it to watching a burglar pile up your prized possessions on the other side of an impassable chasm.
From BBC • Jan. 18, 2026
The mountainside rose sheer and impassable ahead of them.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
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.
