impenetrable
Americanadjective
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not penetrable; that cannot be penetrated, pierced, entered, etc.
-
inaccessible to ideas, influences, etc.
-
incapable of being understood; inscrutable; unfathomable.
an impenetrable mystery.
- Synonyms:
- hidden, obscure, mysterious, incomprehensible
-
Physics. possessing impenetrability.
adjective
-
incapable of being pierced through or penetrated
an impenetrable forest
-
incapable of being understood; incomprehensible
impenetrable jargon
-
incapable of being seen through
impenetrable gloom
-
not susceptible to ideas, influence, etc
impenetrable ignorance
-
physics (of a body) incapable of occupying the same space as another body
Other Word Forms
- impenetrability noun
- impenetrableness noun
- impenetrably adverb
Etymology
Origin of impenetrable
1425–75; late Middle English impenetrabel < Latin impenetrābilis. See im- 2, penetrable
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.
"It's not just Hawkins that feels cut off from the world. It's Stranger Things itself, a show now sealed in an airless, impenetrable bubble of stagnant characters and snarled lore."
From BBC
In a ring of impenetrable reeds, called tules, was Tulare Lake — then the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi River.
From Los Angeles Times
But through it all, Mélisande remains impenetrable, a galvanizing life force from another world.
From Los Angeles Times
The comedy of their scenes is more physical than verbal, but Vogt and Parker’s intrepid slapstick doesn’t solve the problem of their largely impenetrable banter.
From Los Angeles Times
In 1891, the choir was a kind of object symbolizing a British view of Africa: dark and impenetrable rather than individual, capable human beings.
From New York Times
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.
