impervious

adjective im·per·vi·ous \ (ˌ)im-ˈpər-vē-əs \

|Updated on: 21 Jun 2018

Examples: impervious in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of impervious

1 a : not allowing entrance or passage : impenetrable

a coat impervious to rain

b : not capable of being damaged or harmed

a carpet impervious to rough treatment

2 : not capable of being affected or disturbed

impervious to criticism

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imperviously

adverb

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imperviousness

noun

See impervious defined for English-language learners

See impervious defined for kids

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Examples of impervious in a Sentence

He looked at her, impervious to her tears … —Jean Stafford, Children Are Bored on Sunday, (1945) 1953
… the trunk … is encased in so hard a bark, as to be almost impervious to a bullet … —Herman Melville, Omoo, 1847
… Berlin struck me, above all, as impervious to any political reactions whatever … —Stephen Spender, New York Times Magazine, 30 Oct.1977
the material for this coat is supposed to be impervious to rain
the rain forest is impervious to all but the most dedicated explorers

Recent Examples of impervious from the Web

But local government officials continued to approve developers’ plans to cover the city with impervious surfaces like parking lots, sidewalks, roads, and buildings.

— emily atkin, The New Republic, "America’s Flooded Future," 30 May 2018
And why are those viewers so impervious to any story that clashes with the Fox News reality?

— alvin chang, Vox, "The stories Fox News covers obsessively — and those it ignores — in charts," 30 May 2018
Pests & diseases: Given adequate sun and good drainage, this tree is fairly impervious to pests and diseases.

— earl nickel, San Francisco Chronicle, "Evergreen dogwood: Some bark and lots of blooms," 18 May 2018
Fifty years out, alas, Mr. Ehrlich remains as impervious to the evidence as ever.

— william mcgurn, WSJ, "The Population Bomb Was a Dud," 30 Apr. 2018
Some are impervious to the sensory stress and run their race.

— dan wolken, USA TODAY, "Favorite Justify won't win Kentucky Derby, but here's the horse that will," 3 May 2018
What remained unchanged and impervious to remedy by any amount of internal mobilization or outside assistance were the long-term consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.

— serhii plokhy, Time, "The True Cost of the Chernobyl Disaster Has Been Greater Than It Seems," 26 Apr. 2018
The right water-impervious outerwear will protect you from the elements, level up your ‘fit and keep your hands mercifully unencumbered all in one fell swoop.

— yang-yi goh, GQ, "15 Raincoats Handsome Enough to Make You Beg for Bad Weather," 19 Apr. 2018
Not even powerhouse Disney is impervious to the challenges facing fantasy-adventures at the box office.

— pamela mcclintock, The Hollywood Reporter, "Box-Office Preview: 'Wrinkle in Time' Races Against the Clock to Beat 'Black Panther'," 8 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'impervious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The English language is far from impervious, and, of course, a great many Latinate terms have entered it throughout its history. Impervious is one of the many that broke through in the 17th century. It comes from the Latin impervius, which adds the prefix im- to pervius, meaning "passable" or "penetrable." Pervius-which is also the source of the relatively uncommon English word pervious, meaning "accessible" or "permeable"-comes from per-, meaning "through," and via, meaning "way."