impenetrable
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L337523 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ɪmˈpɛnətɹəbəl/ / /ɪmˈpɛnɪtɹəbəl/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English inpenetrabel, inpenetrabyle, from Middle French impenetrable or directly from its etymon, Latin impenetrābilis. By surface analysis, im- + penetrable.
- Not penetrable.
“The fortress is impenetrable, so it cannot be taken.”
“The avalanche spread and stopped, locking everything it carried into an icy cocoon. It was now a jagged, virtually impenetrable pile of ice, longer than a football field and nearly as wide.”
- Opaque; obscure; not translucent or transparent.
“When night falls, she cloaks the world in impenetrable darkness.”
- Incomprehensible; fathomless; inscrutable.
“Business jargon makes this document impenetrable—I can’t understand it.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English inpenetrabel, inpenetrabyle, from Middle French impenetrable or directly from its etymon, Latin impenetrābilis. By surface analysis, im- + penetrable.
- A person not openly given to friendship.
“I should lose the reputation that I am gradually acquiring among our impenetrables here, were I to confess the excitement which I felt at the idea of entering his house—the house of that great general under whose command you made your first charge.”