IMPOSSIBILITY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Impossibility

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/ɪmpˌɔsɪbˈɪlɪti/ Listen

noun

Impossibility n. (pl. impossibilities)

The quality of being impossible; impracticability. "They confound difficulty with impossibility."

An impossible thing; that which is not possible; that which can not be thought, done, or endured. "Impossibilities! O, no, there's none."

Inability; helplessness. (R.)

Logical impossibility, a condition or statement involving contradiction or absurdity; as, that a thing can be and not be at the same time. See Principle of Contradiction, under Contradiction.

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Etymology of 'Impossibility'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Impossibility" Quotes from Famous Books

... right way. Those yearnings are not given us, that they may fall back and wither the fountain from which they spring. But the question is, do we seek for happiness in the right way? Do we not rather ask for an impossibility, when we ask for permanent bliss, before we have laid a foundation in our souls for it? You wish to take this life too easy by far, my son; rouse up all your strength, look around you with the keenness of a resolved spirit, and seek to ...

— Words of Cheer for the Tempted, the Toiling, and the Sorrowing • T. S. Arthur

... I look sickly?' she asked, turning up her face to show the impossibility of his gazing on it and holding such a belief for ...

— Wessex Tales • Thomas Hardy

... mortal terror seized him. What was to be his fate? To regain the top of the cliff by his own exertions was an impossibility. ...

— The Literary World Seventh Reader • Various

... she might perceive his heart was broken and be sorry. He closed loftily by saying: "You advise me, my dear Arethusa—allow me to call you thus for the last time—to find a heart worthier and better. It was unkind in you to urge upon me an impossibility. None but Napoleon ...

— Hubert's Wife - A Story for You • Minnie Mary Lee

... noble cause. They saw clearly enough the sacrifices they would be required to make, and the calamities which would overwhelm the land. But these were nothing to the triumph of their cause. Of this final triumph none of the great leaders of the Revolution doubted. They felt the impossibility of subduing a nation determined to be free, by such forces as England could send across the ocean. Battles might be lost, like those of William the Silent, but if the Dutch could overflow their dikes, the Americans, ...

— Beacon Lights of History, Volume XI • John Lord

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