impractical
adjective
im·prac·ti·cal
(ˌ)im-ˈprak-ti-kəl 
: not practical: such as
a
: not wise to put into or keep in practice or effect
Small cars are impractical for large families.
b
: incapable of dealing sensibly or prudently with practical matters
a dreamy and impractical young man
c
: impracticable
an impractical plan
d
: not having a realistic or practical basis : idealistic
an impractical pipe dream
Examples of impractical in a Sentence
Little sports cars are impractical for large families.
He was a dreamy and impractical young man.
Recent Examples on the Web
If ESAs became widespread here, poorer families would have no choice but to send their children to schools nearby, since establishing bus services for hundreds of microschools would be impractical.
—
Scott Feuless, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
X-ray imaging has long been a powerful tool to inspect the interiors of objects without damaging them, but using it underwater was impractical.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 21 Nov. 2025
Safety board investigator Todd Gianelloni said the crew did periodically inspect the 947-foot container ship, but there were no instructions on how to check individual wire connections, and doing so would have been labor intensive and impractical on a ship with thousands of wires.
—Brian Witte, Arkansas Online, 19 Nov. 2025
Critics lambasted those policies as impractical at best, reckless at worst.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impractical
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Scott Feuless, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
X-ray imaging has long been a powerful tool to inspect the interiors of objects without damaging them, but using it underwater was impractical.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 21 Nov. 2025
Safety board investigator Todd Gianelloni said the crew did periodically inspect the 947-foot container ship, but there were no instructions on how to check individual wire connections, and doing so would have been labor intensive and impractical on a ship with thousands of wires.
—Brian Witte, Arkansas Online, 19 Nov. 2025
Critics lambasted those policies as impractical at best, reckless at worst.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impractical
Cite this Entry
“Impractical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impractical. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
impractical
adjective
im·prac·ti·cal
(ˈ)im-ˈprak-ti-kəl
: not practical: as
a
: not wise to put into or keep in practice or effect
an impractical rule disliked by many
b
: incapable of dealing sensibly with practical matters
c
: impracticable
the new gadgets were complicated and impractical
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