impracticable

American  

[im-prak-ti-kuh-buhl] / ɪmˈpræk tɪ kə bəl /

adjective

1. not practicable; incapable of being put into practice with the available means.

   an impracticable plan.

2. unsuitable for practical use or purposes, as a device or material.

3. (of ground, places, etc.) impassable.

4. (of persons) hard to deal with because of stubbornness, stupidity, etc.

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impracticable British  

/ ɪmˈpræktɪkəbəl /

adjective

1. incapable of being put into practice or accomplished; not feasible

2. unsuitable for a desired use; unfit

3. an archaic word for intractable

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Other Word Forms

• impracticability noun
• impracticableness noun
• impracticably adverb

Etymology

Origin of impracticable

First recorded in 1645–55; im- ² + practicable

Example Sentences

It is hard to justify now, but back then it seemed impracticable to claw back our family’s time and tranquility.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

“It is impracticable to guard against all possible danger of people’s choosing their officers indiscreetly,” Iredell told the North Carolina convention in 1788.

From Slate • May 9, 2025

"It may be impracticable that our distinctively American experiment of individual freedom should go on."

From Salon • Oct. 29, 2023

FTX could owe money to more than 1 million people, making it "impracticable" to contact each, the papers said.

From Reuters • Jan. 6, 2023

The music stopped and the guests gathered in the main hall where a small, innocent priest, adorned with the vestments of high mass, read the complicated sermon he had written exalting confused and impracticable virtues.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende