imperviouslyadv.
/ɪmˈpəːvɪəsli/, U.S. /ᵻmˈpərviəsli/ 1. So as to prevent entrance or passage of water, air, light, etc.; so as not to passed through or penetrated; impermeably, impenetrably. Also in figurative contexts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [adverb] > through > not
impenetrably1647
imperviously1654
1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana i. v. 45 He invented a wooden Cylindre, as an Embolus or Sucker to be intruded into another concave Cylindre of Brass, imperviously stopped below.
1745 tr. G. van Swieten Comm. Aphorisms Boerhaave IX. 43 The matter..stuck imperviously wedged into the ends of the arteries.
1768 W. Alexander Exper. Ess. iii. 181 My pores had been so imperviously shut up by the cold, that the water-gruel had not been able to force its way through them.
1838 Hull Packet 21 Dec. 2/4 Are the gates of Windsor, St. James, and Brighton, imperviously closed against the brother counsellor of Papineau?
1866 W. D. Howells Venetian Life vii. 89 The heavy wooden blinds [shut] imperviously.
1909 Public Health June 332/2 They are still the only populated centres that have most of their streets and footways imperviously paved and flagged.
1984 E. Reid Understanding Buildings ii. 70/2 Similar provisions apply for imperviously skinned walls.
2008 Machine Design (Nexis) 11 Dec. 95 The device's stainless-steel housing is imperviously shrunk onto a ceramic disk at the sensing face.
ΚΠ
1780 J. Sullivan Observ. made during Tour Eng., Scotl., & Wales 9 That solemn hour, when the soul fleeting from its earthly habitation pants for an existence imperviously concealed from man.
1804 Crit. Rev. Nov. 259 The fruitless study of that imperviously dark and inextricably bewildering polemical matter.
1849 Bristol Mercury 21 July 5/5 The sole object of the bill is to make perfectly clear for the future what has hitherto been imperviously obscure.
3. In a manner not open or receptive to argument, persuasion, suggestion, etc.; inflexibly, immovably; without being affected or influenced by something.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > [adverb] > inflexibly
unmovablyc1425
inflexiblya1535
inexorably1610
rigidly1610
unpersuadably1619
unrelentingly1637
impersuasibly1659
full-mouthedly1681
unpliantly1755
uncompromisingly1834
indomitably1837
imperviously1840
unyieldingly1884
tough1943
1840 N.-Y. Evangelist 21 Nov. 186/2 Americans are more imperviously entrenched in prejudice, than any other people.
1895 Blackwood's Mag. Aug. 162/1 The young ladies..have acquired from long practice the faculty of standing about unconcernedly and imperviously in draughts.
1936 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc. 3rd Ser. 65 445 William Windham, British Secretary at War, and by this time imperviously conservative.
1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 July 497/1 To a man less imperviously self-centred it must also have seemed a deep responsibility.
2016 Irish Times (Nexis) 16 May (Finance section) 17 One of the greatest mysteries of capitalism is the way that companies can say and do boneheaded things while their business sails imperviously on.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1654