impossibility

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: im=pos=si=bil=i=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

impossibility, n. [L. impossibilitas: cf. F. impossibilité.].

•  The quality of being impossible; impracticability.  [1913 Webster]

  "They confound difficulty with impossibility."  [1913 Webster]
•  An impossible thing; that which is not possible; that which can not be thought, done, or endured.  [1913 Webster]

  "Impossibilities! O, no, there's none."  [1913 Webster]
•  Inability; helplessness.  Latimer.  [1913 Webster]

Logical impossibility, a condition or statement involving contradiction or absurdity; as, that a thing can be and not be at the same time. See Principle of Contradiction, under Contradiction.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

impossibility, n. (pl. -ies)
1 the fact or condition of being impossible.
2 an impossible thing or circumstance.

Etymology

F impossibilit{eacute} or L impossibilitas (as IMPOSSIBLE)

ROGET THESAURUS

impossibility

Impossibility

N impossibility, what cannot, what can never be, sour grapes, hopelessness, impossible, not possible, absurd, contrary to reason, unlikely, unreasonable, incredible, beyond the bounds of reason, beyond the bounds of possibility, beyond the realm of possibility, from which reason recoils, visionary, inconceivable, prodigious, unimaginable, inimaginable, unthinkable, impracticable unachievable, unfeasible, infeasible, insuperable, unsurmountable, insurmountable, unattainable, unobtainable, out of reach, out of the question, not to be had, not to be thought of, beyond control, desperate, incompatible, inaccessible, uncomeatable, impassable, impervious, innavigable, inextricable, self- contradictory, out of one's power, beyond one's power, beyond one's depth, beyond one's reach, beyond one's grasp, too much for, ultra crepidam, the grapes are sour, non possumus, non nostrum tantas componere lites, look for a needle in a haystack, chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin, il a le mer +a boire.