impenetrabilityn.
/ɪmˌpɛnɪtrəˈbɪlɪti/ 1. The quality or condition of being impenetrable; incapability of being penetrated, entered, or pierced; inscrutability; unfathomableness; ‘unsusceptibility of intellectual impression’ (Johnson).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > [noun] > penetration > ability to be penetrated > not
piercelessness1674
impenetrableness1686
impenetrability1706
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > [noun]
obscuritya1522
incomprehensibility1598
entangledness1611
unconceivableness1611
unsearchableness1611
indiscernibleness1649
inscrutability1654
undiscoverableness1656
unscrutableness1657
unimaginableness1659
inconceivableness1661
unintelligibility1661
imperscrutableness1664
unknowableness1664
unintelligibleness1678
unfathomableness1690
inscrutableness1727
incognoscibility1824
uncognoscibility1827
unconjecturability1827
impenetrability1847
inconceivability1847
intangibility1847
untraceableness1856
incognizabilityc1860
incomprehensibleness1862
unknowability1863
unthinkability1865
elusiveness1873
the mind > emotion > absence of emotion > [noun] > want of or incapacity for emotion
dryheada1300
lethargyc1380
drynessc1450
dumping1542
unsensibility1551
insensibleness?1555
unsensibleness?1555
stupidity1568
stolidity1570
stupor1570
dumpishness1574
senselessness1577
innaturality1579
astoniedness1580
impassibility1603
stupefaction1603
torpor1607
deadness1611
unsufferance1611
hebetude1621
nonsense1621
drought1622
hebetation1623
obstupefaction1625
unanswerableness1626
tastelessnessa1631
insensateness1646
impassiveness1648
obtuseness1648
barrenness1655
torpulency1657
sterility1661
spiritlessness1669
unspiritedness1669
unaffectedness1678
insensibility1691
stolidness1727
apathy1742
impenetrableness1747
unfeelingness1766
impassivity1794
unfeeling1805
soullessness1811
incommobility1822
obtusity1823
unimpressibleness1830
hardhead1836
stockishness1837
insensitiveness1838
impenetrability1847
unreceptivity1849
unsusceptibility1850
woodenness1854
unimpressionability1862
irresponsiveness1864
unresponsiveness1869
impassibleness1874
irreceptivity1881
unimpressibility1889
apatheia1893
inemotivity1894
affectlessness1921
insensitivity1957
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Impenetrability, a being impenetrable.
1794 R. J. Sulivan View of Nature I. 373 Their excessive impenetrability to the action of cold.
1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 37 The firmness, hardness, and impenetrability of minerals.
1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre II. i. 3 I will put her to some test..such absolute impenetrability is past comprehension.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt II. xvii. 38 Jermyn's calculated slowness and conceit in his own impenetrability.
2. Physics. That property of matter in virtue of which two bodies cannot occupy the same place at the same time.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > [noun] > specific concepts or principles of > impossibility to occupy same space and time
impenetrability1665
1665 J. Glanvill Sciri Tuum: Authors Defense 44 in Scepsis Scientifica That Quantity is Divisibility, is presumed; but extension is before it, in nature, and our conception, and is the received notion, though perhaps Impenetrability is the truest.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 770 Tangibility and Impenetrability, were..made by him, the very Essence of Body.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxv. 71 The idea of impenetrability only supposes that two extended substances cannot be in the same place at the same time.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith v. 222 Extension and impenetrability, long regarded as essential properties of matter, are now perceived to be properties not of atoms, but of masses of coherent molecules.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2020).
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