insoluble
Americanadjective
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incapable of being dissolved.
insoluble salts.
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incapable of being solved or explained.
an insoluble problem.
adjective
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incapable of being dissolved; incapable of forming a solution, esp in water
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incapable of being solved
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of insoluble
1350–1400; < Latin insolūbilis; replacing Middle English insolible < Middle French insoluble < L. See in- 3, soluble
Explanation
Let a bottle of salad dressing stand on the table for a few hours and you will notice that it has separated into layers. That's because oil is insoluble or is not capable of being dissolved. Insoluble comes from the Latin insolubilis meaning "that cannot be loosened." When a substance is insoluble, it cannot be dissolved or loosened in water. Similarly, a situation that is insoluble has no hope of being solved. When a marriage is beyond repair and cannot be fixed, it is insoluble.
Vocabulary lists containing insoluble
Animal Farm
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"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Stories of Ourselves
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An insoluble puzzle may be how to give artificial intelligence agents complicated open-ended tasks—tasks that may have many unpredictable paths to a solution—without courting outcomes very much contrary to the intentions of the task giver.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Soluble fiber dissolves in water and slows digestion, while insoluble fiber helps move waste through the digestive tract.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 8, 2026
It’s the counterpoint to Syd’s earliest argument for sticking with this insoluble endeavor: “Why can’t we put everything that we have into everything that we can?”
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2025
In mice, the ketone ester treatment resulted in clearance rather than pathological aggregation of insoluble proteins.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 2, 2024
And now, on top of these insoluble things, her mother had only hours before probed into the pit of her soul and discovered her deep uncertainty.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
