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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



55 words match “IMPOSSIBLE”

IMPOSSIBLE a. 2 definitions
ifficult under the circumstances; absurd or impracticable; not feasible. With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Matt. xix. 26. Without faith it is impossible to please him. Heb. xi. 6. Impossible quantity (Math.), an imagnary quantity. See Imaginary.
ADMIT v.
To concede as true; to acknowledge or assent to, as an allegation which it is impossible to deny; to own or confess; as, the argument or fact is admitted; he admitted his guilt.
ANNIHILATE v.
duce to nothing or nonexistence; to destroy the existence of; to cause to cease to be. It impossible for any body to be utterly annihilated. Bacon.
ANSWERLESS a.
Having no answer, or impossible to be answered. Byron.
APPROACHLESS a.
Impossible to be approached.
BAY n.
A state of being obliged to face an antagonist or a difficulty, when escape has become impossible. Embolden'd by despair, he stood at bay. Dryden. The most terrible evils are just kept at bay by incessant efforts. I. Taylor
CHECKMATE v.
To check (an adversary's king) in such a manner that escape in impossible; to defeat (an adversary) by putting his king in check from which there is no escape.
COMA n.
A state of profound insensibility from which it is difficult or impossible to rouse a person. See Carus.
CONDITION v.
bject those relations or conditions without which knowledge and thought are alleged to be impossible. To think of a thing is to condition. Sir W. Hamilton.
CONTENTMENT n.
The act or process of contenting or satisfying; as, the contentment of avarice is impossible.
CYNIC n.
uperficial and untrustworthy. He could obtain from one morose cynic, whose opinion it was impossible to despise, scarcely any not acidulated with scorn. Macaulay.
ENEMY n.
e is ours or they are ours. It was difficult in such a country to track the enemy. It was impossible to drive him to bay. Macaulay.
ESSAY v.
g she can not perform. Emerson. A danger lest the young enthusiast . . . should essay the impossible. J. C. Shairp.
EXTIRP v.
To extirpate. [Obs.] It is impossible to extirp it quite, friar. Shak .
FAITH n.
true Christian, -- called a practical, evangelical, or saving faith. Without faith it is impossible to please him [God]. Heb. xi. 6. The faith of the gospel is that emotion of the mind which is called "trust" or "confidence" exercised toward the moral character of God, and particularly of the Savior. Dr. T. Dwight. Fa…
FELLOW n.
An equal in power, rank, character, etc. It is impossible that ever Rome Should breed thy fellow. Shak.
GOOSE n.
he royal game of goose. Goldsmith. A wild goose chase, an attempt to accomplish something impossible or unlikely of attainment. -- Fen goose. See under Fen. -- Goose barnacle (Zoöl.), any pedunculated barnacle of the genus Anatifa or Lepas; -- called also duck barnacle. See Barnacle, and Cirripedia. -- Goose cap, a…
HABITUDE n.
Habit of body or of action. Shak. It is impossible to gain an exact habitude without an infinite Dryden.
IDENTICAL a.
. When you say body is solid, I say that you make an identical proposition, because it is impossible to have the idea of body without that of solidity. Fleming. Identical equation (Alg.), an equation which is true for all values of the algebraic symbols which enter into it.
IMAGINARY a.
. -- Imaginary expression or quantity (Alg.), an algebraic expression which involves the impossible operation of taking the square root of a negative quantity; as, sq. root-9, a + b sq. root-1. -- Imaginary points, lines, surfaces, etc. (Geom.), points, lines, surfaces, etc., imagined to exist, although by reason of…
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