impossibility

Other forms: impossibilities

An impossibility is something that can never, ever happen. Eating ice cream without getting a stomach ache afterward is an impossibility for people who are lactose intolerant.

You might start to suspect the impossibility of finding an affordable apartment in New York once you start looking for one, or fear the impossibility that you'll ever pass your French class if you struggle with conjugating verbs. When something's impossible, it can't happen or exist, and an impossibility is impossible. Both words come from the Latin impossibilis, "not possible," from the roots im-, "not," and possibilis, "that can be done."

Definitions of impossibility

1. noun

   incapability of existing or occurring
   synonyms: impossibleness

   antonyms:

   possibility

   capability of existing or happening or being true

   types:

   inconceivability, inconceivableness

   the state of being impossible to conceive

   unattainableness

   the state of being unattainable

   type of:

   nonentity, nonexistence

   the state of not existing
2. noun

   an alternative that is not available
   synonyms: impossible action

   types:

   impossible

   something that cannot be done

   type of:

   alternative, choice, option

   one of a number of things from which only one can be chosen