impossibility

[im-pos-uh-bil-i-tee, im-pos-]

noun

plural

impossibilities 

1. condition or quality of being impossible.

2. something impossible.

impossibility

/ ɪmˌpɒsəˈbɪlɪtɪ, ˌɪmpɒs- /

noun

1. the state or quality of being impossible

2. something that is impossible

Word History and Origins

Origin of impossibility¹

1350–1400; Middle English impossibilite < Late Latin impossibilitās. See im- ², possibility

Example Sentences

To Andrew Friedman, something like this was a virtual impossibility.

From Los Angeles Times

Their famously contentious relationship made an Oasis reunion seem like an impossibility, until it wasn’t.

From Salon

At one point, she says, the magnitude of the task left her in "utter despair" and "overcome by a feeling of sheer impossibility".

From BBC

His 16-year-old, he added, hoped to study aeronautics — an impossibility in Syria.

From Los Angeles Times

Several accounts pointed to the impossibility of “negative numbers” for drug prices, along with the idea of “getting paid to take drugs.”

From Salon

Related Words

• futility