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impenetrable

[im-pen-i-truh-buhl]

adjective

not penetrable; that cannot be penetrated, pierced, entered, etc.

inaccessible to ideas, influences, etc.

incapable of being understood; inscrutable; unfathomable: an impenetrable mystery.

Physics. possessing impenetrability.

Origin:
1425–75; late Middle English impenetrabel < Latin impenetrābilis. See im-², penetrable

Related forms

im·pen·e·tra·ble·ness, noun

im·pen·e·tra·bly, adverb

Synonyms
3. incomprehensible, mysterious, obscure, hidden.

Antonyms
3. clear, lucid.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Impenetrable is always a great word to know.

So is nuclear radiation. Does it mean:

radiation in the form of elementary particles emitted by an atomic nucleus produced by decay of radioactive substances or by nuclear fission

to be reflected many times, as sound waves from the walls of a confined space

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Collins

World English Dictionary

impenetrable (ɪmˈpɛnɪtrəb^əl)

—*adj*
1.	incapable of being pierced through or penetrated: an impenetrable forest
2.	incapable of being understood; incomprehensible: impenetrable jargon
3.	incapable of being seen through: impenetrable gloom
4.	not susceptible to ideas, influence, etc: impenetrable ignorance
5.	physics (of a body) incapable of occupying the same space as another body

impenetra'bility

—n

im'penetrableness

—n

im'penetrably

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Matching Quote

"His moving impulse is no flabby yearning to teach, to expound, to make simple; it is that "obscure inner necessity" of which Conrad tells us, the irresistible creative passion of a genuine artist, standing spell-bound before the impenetrable enigma that is life, enamoured by the strange beauty that plays over its sordidness, challenged to a wondering and half-terrified sort of representation of what passes understanding."

-H.L. Mencken

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