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impenetrability

impenetrability

1 9.9
Being impossible to go through, like thick walls or heavy fog
  • noun
  • /ɪmˌpɛnəˈtræbɪlɪti/
translation icon : impenetrabilidad
  • Notice the way the words never fuse in Ruscha's abstract skies: there is a complete impenetrability between the mock landscape backgrounds and the sticky letters that press against it.

Examples

  • The air of mystery and impenetrability

    Academic text (2010)
  • There remains much exasperation over the Japanese market's seeming impenetrability to many imports and most foreign direct investment.

    Academic text (1990)
  • A forest of mystical impenetrability covered Europe from the Pyrenees to the Urals again.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Their relationship with glass surfaces and their physical impenetrability fits Mies's residential architecture to the description of Michel Carrouges's "Bachelor Machine," a mechanism designed for philosophical celibacy that renounces woman and the flesh, or at least women in the flesh.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The impenetrability of the dense fog made it difficult for the drivers to see the road ahead.

  • Geologists studied the impenetrability of the rock layers to understand the region's geological history.

  • The author's complicated writing style contributed to the impenetrability of her novels, making them challenging for readers.

Synonyms

inaccessibility
vsimpenetrability
2 8.3

A state when people cannot reach or get something easily

also implies inability to pass through or understand not just hard to reach
incomprehensibility
vsimpenetrability
1 9.9

A state where something is very hard to understand

includes physical inability to pass through as well as mental difficulty
inscrutability
vsimpenetrability
1 9.9

A quality that you cannot understand or know the reasons for

is broader and also applies to physical barriers
imperviousness
vsimpenetrability
1 8.7

A state of not allowing water, light, or ideas to pass through

also covers mental inability to understand as well as physical blocking
inexplicability
vsimpenetrability
1 9.8

A state when something cannot be explained or understood

also covers physical blockage and not just lack of explanation
impassability
vsimpenetrability
1 8.3

A situation where a road or path cannot be crossed

also includes difficulty in understanding not only physical obstruction
imperceptibility
vsimpenetrability
1 9.5

A state of being very hard to notice

also covers physical non-entry and lack of understanding not only low noticeability
impenetrableness
vsimpenetrability
9.9

A quality of being impossible to get through or understand

is the same meaning but uses a different noun ending
impalpability
vsimpenetrability
9.9

You cannot easily understand or picture it in your mind

includes physical blockage as well as mental incomprehension
impermeability
vsimpenetrability
  • Specialized
8.3

The quality of not letting water or air pass through

is more general covering any blocked entry or lack of understanding
impermeableness
vsimpenetrability
  • Specialized
9.8

The quality of not letting water pass through something

is wider and applies to physical and mental barriers rather than only fluids
indiscernibility
vsimpenetrability
9.9

A state in which something is impossible to see or tell apart

also covers blocking entry and understanding not just being unseen

Antonyms

22 3.4

How easy it is for people to reach or use something

How easily people, light, or other things can pass through something

How Impenetrable

impenetrability
1 9.9

Surface Forms

Morphology

impenetrability = impenetrable (transparent) = im + penetrate + able + ity

Formed by adding the noun-forming suffix '-ity' to the clearly negative adjective 'impenetrable', so the step is directly derivable.

Etymology

Impenetrability breaks into the parts im- ('not'), penetrate ('to enter'), and -ability ('can be done'). So, impenetrability is the quality of being 'not able to be entered or passed through', like thick fog or a very strong wall.