Definition of impassable
: incapable of being passed, traveled, crossed, or surmounted
variants:
or less commonly
impassible
Updated on: 11 Apr 2018
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Examples of impassable in a Sentence
The roads were made impassable by the flood.
the road was impassable until snowplows cleared it
Recent Examples of impassable from the Web
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The wife explained that a rescue boat — blocked, by an impassable bridge — was waiting five blocks away, but her husband had trouble walking because of a respiratory problem.
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As once-impassable sea ice becomes less formidable, countries are upgrading gargantuan icebreakers to make way for entirely new arteries for commerce—and war.
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Traffic signals stopped working in Sandwich and Orleans, and downed wires and tree limbs made roadways impassable in many communities.
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Major travel disruptions were reported in Scotland, with roads impassable, airports closed, trains stuck in stations and thousands of schools and business closed for days.
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Medical facilities are likely to overburdened with serious injuries after a major quake and otherwise hobbled by power loss and emergency transportation routes that could be impassable.
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The road to the Scituate Lighthouse became nearly impassable as water flooded in from the left and the right.
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Others evoke the oppressive days of the Berlin Wall — towering concrete panels lined up in a row, and impassable.
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High waves battered nearby Scituate, making roads impassable and turning parking lots into small ponds.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'impassable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of impassable
1562
IMPASSABLE Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of impassable for English Language Learners
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: impossible to pass, cross, or travel over
IMPASSABLE Defined for Kids
impassable
Definition of impassable for Students
: impossible to pass, cross, or travel
- … the forest road … led to impassable marshes where the paths had long been lost.
- —J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Learn More about impassable
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See words that rhyme with impassable Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for impassable Spanish Central: Translation of impassable Nglish: Translation of impassable for Spanish speakers
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