insuperable

From Latin insuperabilis.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsup(ə)ɹəb(ə)l/

  • Audio (US):

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insuperable (comparative more insuperable, superlative most insuperable)

1. Impossible to achieve or overcome or be negotiated.
   • 1950 September, “The Southwold Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 578:

     Regular services for passengers and goods were maintained for almost 50 years, but the speed limit of 16 m.p.h., imposed by the Board of Trade, proved an insuperable handicap after the introduction of competitive motor bus services.

   • 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes‎^[1], page 308:

     While Indian English may not have a uniform standard form throughout the country, this in itself is not an insuperable obstacle for lexicography.

2. Overwhelming or insurmountable.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 4–5:

     For the first time I steadily reviewed the obstacles—and to consider them was at once to see they were insuperable.

• unsuperable

• superable

• insuperableness

• insuperability

• impassable
• unconquerable

• “insuperable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “insuperable”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “insuperable”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

From Learned borrowing from Latin īnsuperābilis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [in.su.pəˈɾab.blə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [in.su.peˈɾa.ble]

insuperable m or f (masculine and feminine plural insuperables)

1. insuperable

• insuperabilitat

• superable

• “insuperable”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

• IPA^(key): /insupeˈɾable/ [ĩn.su.peˈɾa.β̞le]
• Rhymes: -able
• Syllabification: in‧su‧pe‧ra‧ble

insuperable m or f (masculine and feminine plural insuperables)

1. insuperable

• “insuperable”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28