impregnable

/ɪmˈprɛgnəbəl/

/ɪmˈprɛgnəbəl/

When something is impregnable it is not easily taken by force and can stand up to any attack. We usually use it in reference to some form of protection, like a fort or a solid defensive line in football.

The genealogy of the adjective impregnable includes the Middle French word prenable, meaning "vulnerable, easily conquered," which itself came from the verb prendre, which meant "to take." The addition of the negative prefix im- flipped the meaning. Impregnable can be used to describe anything that cannot be entered or successfully attacked. Seventeenth-century theater critic Jeremy Collier once said, "True courage is a result of reasoning. A brave mind is always impregnable."

Definitions of impregnable

1. adjective

   immune to attack; incapable of being tampered with
   “an impregnable fortress”

   synonyms: inviolable, secure, strong, unassailable, unattackable

   invulnerable

   immune to attack; impregnable
2. adjective

   incapable of being overcome, challenged, or refuted
   “an impregnable argument”

   “impregnable self-confidence”

   synonyms: inexpugnable

   unconquerable

   not capable of being conquered or vanquished or overcome
3. adjective

   capable of conceiving
   synonyms: conceptive

   fertile

   capable of reproducing