impracticable

American  

[im-prak-ti-kuh-buhl] / ɪmˈpræk tɪ kə bəl /

adjective

1. not practicable; incapable of being put into practice with the available means.

   an impracticable plan.

2. unsuitable for practical use or purposes, as a device or material.

3. (of ground, places, etc.) impassable.

4. (of persons) hard to deal with because of stubbornness, stupidity, etc.

---

impracticable British  

/ ɪmˈpræktɪkəbəl /

adjective

1. incapable of being put into practice or accomplished; not feasible

2. unsuitable for a desired use; unfit

3. an archaic word for intractable

---

Other Word Forms

• impracticability noun
• impracticableness noun
• impracticably adverb

Etymology

Origin of impracticable

First recorded in 1645–55; im- ² + practicable

Example Sentences

It is hard to justify now, but back then it seemed impracticable to claw back our family’s time and tranquility.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

Although it may seem impracticable, a renegotiation will look more appealing in the decades ahead of us, more so, I suspect, in the face of genuine hardship.

From Salon • Apr. 16, 2024

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a stickler for legible rules, sounded borderline aghast at this baggy, boundless standard; she lobbed a series of hypotheticals at Aguiñaga that showed he was pushing a meaningless and impracticable test.

From Slate • Mar. 18, 2024

FTX could owe money to more than 1 million people, making it "impracticable" to contact each, the papers said.

From Reuters • Jan. 6, 2023

The music stopped and the guests gathered in the main hall where a small, innocent priest, adorned with the vestments of high mass, read the complicated sermon he had written exalting confused and impracticable virtues.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende