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Từ điển LongMan Dictionary
impossible
 I. adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
an impossible dream (=about something that cannot happen)
▪ Having a number one record had seemed an impossible dream.
an impossible position (=a very difficult situation)
▪ She was furious with Guy for putting her in such an impossible position.
be hard/easy/impossible etc to please
▪ She’s hard to please. Everything has to be perfect.
be impossible to judge
▪ How much this affected their children was impossible to judge.
difficult/hard/impossible etc to credit
▪ We found his statement hard to credit.
difficult/impossible to quantify
▪ The damage caused to the tourist industry is difficult to quantify.
difficult/impossible/easy/possible etc to detect
impossible to resist
▪ The urge to give him a hug was almost impossible to resist.
impossible (=very difficult)
▪ I was in an impossible situation.
impossible
▪ She may argue that the task is impossible.
impossible/overwhelming odds (=making success seem extremely unlikely)
▪ They face impossible odds simply trying to get an education.
▪ They face overwhelming odds in their struggle to preserve the park.
it is difficult/hard/impossible to exaggerate sth (=used to say that something cannot be made to seem more important etc than it already is)
▪ It is difficult to exaggerate the strength of people’s feelings on this matter.
quite impossible
▪ I’m sorry. That’s quite impossible.
render sb/sth impossible/harmless/unconscious etc
▪ He was rendered almost speechless by the news.
▪ The blow to his head was strong enough to render him unconscious.
seemingly impossible
▪ We are attempting to do something that is seemingly impossible.
well-nigh impossible
▪ It will be well-nigh impossible to raise that amount of money.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
 ADVERB
absolutely
▪ Initially scheduled for Basingstoke on February 9, the trial was postponed when heavy snowfalls made travel absolutely impossible for many athletes.
▪ Either he was insane and already suffering from hallucinations, or something absolutely impossible was happening.
▪ Lee was on a downslope, and it seemed absolutely impossible for him to finish close.
almost
▪ The discovery put the daughter in an almost impossible position.
▪ Johnny Cooper thought it almost impossible that three men carrying only sixty small bombs between them had created such havoc and destruction.
▪ When he sat down it was almost impossible to continue even a proforma debate.
▪ If he had any lingering memories, which was almost impossible to credit, they would not match what he now encountered.
▪ Apart from being almost impossible to cut, second hand shop windows are usually of inferior quality.
▪ Like many doctors still, scientists find it almost impossible to take on the notion of psychic energy.
▪ The public's trust that he truly represents them will be almost impossible to muster.
▪ Mathematicians of the finest calibre were essential for what then seemed the almost impossible task of breaking a code with astronomical permutations.
nearly
▪ Finding new staff is nearly impossible.
▪ Wuhan was in an uproar when they arrived, its streets nearly impossible because of the mobs.
▪ It was nearly impossible to get them to accept a surrender.
▪ The accumulation of obligations made it nearly impossible for the children to pry loose from the entanglement.
▪ Except in tourist hotels and restaurants, it is nearly impossible to pay with anything over a $ 5 note.
▪ It is possible to find safe harbor but nearly impossible to do so without a few blow-ups.
▪ It is difficult to accept such a change simply on intellectual grounds and nearly impossible to accept its implications.
▪ There are long, loose episodes here that are nearly impossible to follow and probably should have been cut.
nigh
▪ If the system makes too early a commitment on segmentation, recovery will be well nigh impossible. 4.2.2.3.
▪ And everybody knew it was mighty nigh impossible to quit them.
▪ But knowing is not doing, and many people find it well nigh impossible to kick the habit.
▪ Undermanning can make the task nigh impossible on some estates; on the others the approach is far too casual.
▪ The lieutenant was right: it would be nigh impossible to make everyone account for their movements.
▪ I just found it really hard, y'know. Nigh impossible.
physically
▪ They were just physically impossible to move in and out of the studios.
▪ The illogical, unlikely and physically impossible are treated as natural phenomena.
▪ His hypothesis, while unlikely, is neither logically nor physically impossible.
▪ But he realized that this was physically impossible.
▪ By the power of his imagination he was trying to do something that was physically impossible.
practically
▪ It was hot in the thin corridor, and the hanging husks made going forwards practically impossible.
▪ And it would be practically impossible to require a teacher to watch each student at all times.
▪ The ground was frozen, and digging foundations was practically impossible in such drastic weather conditions.
▪ These are a large number of possibilities and they would be practically impossible to distinguish by breeding experiments.
▪ This would lead to a mixing of chemicals and cause explosions that together with flooding would make evacuation practically impossible.
▪ Amongst black school leavers, finding a job is practically impossible.
▪ This reversal would have been practically impossible under Gats.
quite
▪ But why had nobody ever told her that it was quite impossible to keep clean whenever there were any children about?
▪ Very unlikely, though perhaps not quite impossible.
▪ Citrus shrubs are wonderfully fragrant evergreens, but quite impossible outdoors without protection.
▪ And the Presbyterians are quite impossible.
▪ It was purchased because the sound of the river made reaching him by any other means quite impossible.
▪ Though it was still quite impossible to judge the scale of the picture, the camera was obviously seeing for miles.
▪ Indeed it would have been quite impossible for it to have adopted any other attitude.
▪ It would have been quite impossible to finish the book but for the computer program I had been given.
seemingly
▪ However, the new minister on arrival soon found that he was faced with a seemingly impossible task.
▪ Thick white branches arch as far out as the tree is tall, sometimes at seemingly impossible angles.
▪ As far as motion video, in particular, is concerned, the constraints of available technology force multimedia into a seemingly impossible situation.
▪ Sexually menacing and effeminately feral, he prowled cat-like across the stage, perching on amps and lights in seemingly impossible positions.
▪ This is steering that manages the seemingly impossible: to be bad just about everywhere.
▪ The measure of his heart is how he deals with adversity and the way he overcomes a seemingly impossible situation.
▪ Not only a master, but a natural comedian, because he found humour in seemingly impossible situations.
▪ The men can freelance, depend on their height to make seemingly impossible moves.
virtually
▪ In reality, it was virtually impossible for the supporters of democracy to rally.
▪ It was virtually impossible to live in the United States in the late 1960s without being exposed to the growing antiwar movement.
▪ Just when it is vital to get policy on sterling right, the task has become virtually impossible.
▪ In the hectic days of I 96 I, such exploratory care and effort were virtually impossible.
▪ The position of the piece of gravel would have made it virtually impossible for the fish to dislodge it.
▪ In fact, without some anxiety it would be virtually impossible to be productive.
▪ Yet it is virtually impossible to think of a way in which they could be tested against one another.
▪ Such appeals were virtually impossible before an order in April 1996 by now-Chief of Naval Operations Adm.
NOUN
dream
▪ How long can you hang on to an impossible dream?
▪ Territory for peace is not an impossible dream.
▪ Opponents to the listing see it as an expensive attempt at an impossible dream and a misuse of the Endangered Species Act.
▪ It sounds like an impossible dream.
▪ Was no one around to warn her this was an impossible dream?
▪ Even six months ago, that seemed an impossible dream, but now, who knows?
▪ Unity now seems an impossible dream.
position
▪ The discovery put the daughter in an almost impossible position.
▪ Sexually menacing and effeminately feral, he prowled cat-like across the stage, perching on amps and lights in seemingly impossible positions.
▪ She felt illogically furious with Guy for putting her in such an impossible position.
▪ He imagined her screwed into some impossible position in her last spasm, her face looking grey and ugly on the pillow.
▪ It would put them in an impossible position if a legally-binding Living Will demanded what they considered unethical or bad medical practice.
▪ The council says it's in an impossible position.
▪ We find ourselves in an impossible position.
situation
▪ He was almost unbelieving of his impossible situation but on principle he didn't allow himself to feel jealous.
▪ The measure of his heart is how he deals with adversity and the way he overcomes a seemingly impossible situation.
▪ Clearly, it would put the practitioner in an impossible situation.
▪ As far as motion video, in particular, is concerned, the constraints of available technology force multimedia into a seemingly impossible situation.
▪ The point is of course that the puzzle itself is false in setting up an impossible situation.
▪ Not only a master, but a natural comedian, because he found humour in seemingly impossible situations.
task
▪ But was that really her fault - or was I presenting her with an impossible task?
▪ The market permits people to make decisions and to act without going through the impossible task of collecting all the relevant information.
▪ This would not be an impossible task, given the state of information technology.
▪ An impossible task, the priests told him.
▪ It is of course an impossible task to examine the record of Marxism in such a short space as I have available.
▪ Under the block-grant funding system, this was an almost impossible task.
▪ With an empire of such a size, it was a difficult but not impossible task she had set herself.
▪ Dropping a combined 76 tons in a city the size of Philadelphia is hardly an impossible task.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
near perfect/impossible etc
▪ Colin was fulsome in his praise of the role of finance directors in delivering a near impossible set of financial reforms.
▪ Comets therefore tend to explode into vapor with near perfect efficiency and devastating power on impact.
▪ Conclusions: The velvet cloth is a near perfect black, but more expensive and less readily available than the other materials.
▪ In the latter case the specimen is of near perfect geometry for a torsion test.
▪ In the main, larval control would have to be near perfect in its efficiency and to allow very few adults to survive.
▪ So everything seemed okay: the barn was secure, the food supply was better than good and the terrain near perfect.
▪ That doesn't stop Hedley from dreaming of owning a video store, even though it seems near impossible.
▪ Unfortunately, strong winds curtailed the sport on a near perfect river level carrying about four inches extra, but fining off.
next to impossible/useless etc
▪ As a waterproof it was next to useless.
▪ But counting the dead is next to impossible.
▪ But he quickly learned that at his age it was next to impossible to find a professional job in San Francisco.
▪ Buying such a processor for less than $ 400 is next to impossible.
▪ Further, genuine educational change in these settings is next to impossible given the logistical difficulty of just getting the staff together.
▪ In the early months, this restraint was next to impossible for them to achieve.
physically possible/impossible
▪ Also, it isn't physically possible to sit and listen to a rap album all the way through.
▪ But he realized that this was physically impossible.
▪ By the power of his imagination he was trying to do something that was physically impossible.
▪ His hypothesis, while unlikely, is neither logically nor physically impossible.
▪ The illogical, unlikely and physically impossible are treated as natural phenomena.
▪ They were just physically impossible to move in and out of the studios.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ ""The police suspect John.'' ""But that's impossible. He was with us the whole day.''
▪ an impossible task
▪ Dan's impossible to live with when he's sick.
▪ Her back injury has made it impossible for her to play tennis anymore.
▪ It's a seemingly impossible task.
▪ It was impossible that anyone could have survived the crash.
▪ Many fear that peace is now impossible.
▪ She's impossible! Even when I offer to help her she always find some reason to complain.
▪ Sometimes an abortion seems like the only way out of an impossible situation.
▪ The street was narrow and it was impossible for the two buses to pass.
▪ The twins are so alike that it's impossible to tell them apart.
▪ We're supposed to do all this work by tomorrow, but it's impossible.
▪ When people leave prison, they often find it impossible to get a job.
▪ You're impossible!
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Another non-solution is to sign a treaty and then forget about it in a few years or declare it impossible to achieve.
▪ In the eighteenth century it seemed impossible to build a barn without creating a work of art.
▪ It is impossible to take a complex problem and rationally unravel the mess into logical interacting pieces.
▪ It is mathematically impossible for any Democratic rival to overhaul Clinton in the primary process.
▪ It is possible to find safe harbor but nearly impossible to do so without a few blow-ups.
▪ It was almost impossible to get some rest.
▪ It was tough, tough work, but not impossible.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
VERB
make
▪ Apparently, Clare was able to watch midnight mass from her death-bed, though many walls should have made this impossible.
▪ Ellen persisted in trying to perform as directed, but her body decided to make the messages impossible to ignore.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Somehow without meaning to, she found that she had done the impossible for her: she had memorized that poem.
impossible
I. im‧pos‧si‧ble1 S2 W2 /ɪmˈpɒsəbəl, ɪmˈpɒsɪbəl $ ɪmˈpɑː-/ adjective
[Word Family: noun: possibility ≠ impossibility, the impossible, possible; adverb: possibly ≠ impossibly; adjective: possible ≠ impossible]
1. something that is impossible cannot happen or be done OPP possible:
▪ ‘I want to speak to Mr Franks.’ ‘I’m afraid that’s impossible.’
▪ It’s impossible to be accurate about these things.
▪ The noise made sleep impossible.
▪ Members with young children often found it impossible to attend evening meetings.
▪ It is difficult to find work these days, but for blind people it is virtually impossible.
▪ He was faced with a seemingly impossible task.
▪ It was physically impossible to get the fridge through the door.
▪ Six months ago, peace seemed an impossible dream.
▪ Such mental attitudes are difficult, if not impossible, to change.
2. a situation that is impossible is one that you cannot deal with:
▪ We were in an impossible situation. Whatever we decided to do would upset someone.
▪ Helen’s refusal to cooperate put me in an impossible position.
▪ His attitude is making life impossible for the rest of the team.
▪ He was facing impossible odds.
3. behaving in a very unreasonable and annoying way:
▪ Oh, you’re just impossible!
—impossibly adverb:
▪ Some sales managers think selling abroad is impossibly difficult.
—impossibility /ɪmˌpɒsəˈbɪləti, ɪmˌpɒsɪˈbɪləti $ -ˌpɑː-/ noun [UNCOUNTABLE AND COUNTABLE]:
▪ One hundred percent airline security is a practical impossibility.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
verbs
▪seem impossible
▪ It seemed impossible that he would ever recover from the injury.
▪become impossible
▪ As it became darker, it became impossible for the players to see the ball.
▪prove impossible (=be impossible because you have tried but not succeeded)
▪ It proved impossible for the two sides to reach an agreement.
▪find something impossible
▪ He found it impossible to sleep because of the noise coming from next door.
▪make something impossible
▪ Heavy snow made travelling impossible.
▪render something impossible formal (=make something impossible)
▪ The large number of prison guards rendered any escape impossible.
adverbs
▪absolutely impossible (also utterly impossible formal)
▪ It is absolutely impossible to drive in these conditions.
▪almost/nearly impossible
▪ He thought that winning would be almost impossible.
▪virtually/practically impossible (=almost impossible)
▪ Getting tickets for the concert is practically impossible.
▪well-nigh impossible formal (=almost impossible )
▪ Policing the entire coastline is well-nigh impossible.
▪seemingly impossible (=seeming to be impossible)
▪ He managed to win the chess game from a seemingly impossible position.
▪physically impossible
▪ It is physically impossible to survive for long in the desert without water.
nouns
▪an impossible job/task
▪ He faced the impossible task of paying back huge debts.
▪an impossible feat (=something that is impossible to do)
▪ She achieved the seemingly impossible feat of breaking the world record.
▪an impossible dream (=something you want, but will never happen)
▪ For a small club, winning the cup final will always be the impossible dream.
▪impossible demands
▪ She was growing tired of the company’s impossible demands.
phrases
▪it is impossible to do something
▪ It is impossible to know if this story is true.
▪difficult, if not impossible (=difficult, and perhaps impossible)
▪ Obtaining funding for the film will be difficult, if not impossible.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪impossible something that is impossible cannot happen or be done :
▪ It’s impossible to get a taxi around here.
▪ At times, finding a job felt like an impossible task.
▪impractical something that is impractical is too expensive, takes too much time, is too difficult etc and therefore it is not sensible to try to do it :
▪ It’s a nice idea, but it’s totally impractical.
▪ We cannot all just stop using our cars - that would be completely impractical.
▪ an impractical suggestion
▪out of the question used when saying that something is completely impossible, especially because it is not allowed :
▪ It’s out of the question for you to go alone.
▪there’s no way informal used when saying that you think something is completely impossible :
▪ There’s no way we can get to the airport in less than an hour.
▪inconceivable impossible to imagine or believe :
▪ It seemed inconceivable that there could be an end to the fighting in Northern Ireland.
▪unthinkable impossible to imagine or believe - used especially about something that seems very shocking to people :
▪ In those days it was unthinkable for a lady to work outside the home.
▪unattainable impossible to achieve :
▪ an unattainable goal
▪ Victory seemed unattainable.
▪it can’t be done spoken used when saying very definitely that something is impossible :
▪ I’m afraid it can’t be done.
II. impossible2 noun
the impossible something that cannot be done
attempt/do/ask etc the impossible
▪ I just want to be able to buy healthy food at a reasonable price. Is that asking the impossible?
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