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.
Given that you don’t live in the same state as your friend, it would be impractical to act as executor.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
She added that a number of "chocolate box pretty cottages" are great for holidays but are "totally impractical" for full-time living as "they're cold, damp and dark in the winter".
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
But a convoy operation is impractical with the blockade in full force, U.S. officials say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Manually examining millions of detections would have been impractical.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Abnegation sees art as impractical, and its appreciation as time that could be spent serving others, so though I have seen works of art in textbooks, I have never been in a decorated room before.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
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.
