impossible English · revision 3082

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1300|origins=la possibilis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ɪmˈpɒs.ə.bᵊl/, US /ɪmˈpɑː.sə.bᵊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|impossibile]],^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|fro|impossible]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and directly [[der|la|impossibilis|t=not possible]],^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|in-|t=not]] and [[m|la|possibilis|t=possible]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) See [[possible]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Not possible, that cannot be done or exist: before 1300 in the OED,^(OED 1989) before 1325 in ''Cursor Mundi'' in Barnhart (as “unbelievable”),^(Barnhart 1988) and the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In mathematics it meant “having no real value, imaginary” from 1673.^(OED 1989) The weakened sense, “very hard to do or put up with”, of people and situations, is from the mid-19th century,^(Etymonline) or 1858 in the OED.^(OED 1989) As a noun, ''the impossible'', “that which seems impossible”, is from 1839.^(OED 1989) The less common ''unpossible'' is also from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) ''Impossibility'' is from about 1385, and ''impossibly'' from about 1410.^(Barnhart 1988) In northern Yorkshire dialect ''an impossible being'' was an oddity.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1300 – not possible.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1385 – ''impossibility''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1673 – in mathematics, imaginary.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1839 – noun, ''the impossible''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1858 – unreasonable, intolerable.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Not able to exist or happen.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Not able to be done: ''an impossible task''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Very difficult to deal with; [[intolerable]]: ''an impossible child''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # [[absurd|alt=Absurd]] or unacceptable.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''the impossible'': something that cannot be done or seems impossible.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[impossibly]]

+ * [[impossibleness]]

+ * [[impossibility]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[possible]]

+ * [[potent]]

+ * [[posse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}