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Impracticable vs Unable - What's the difference?

impracticable | unable |

As adjectives the difference between impracticable and unable

is that impracticable is not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice while unable is not able; lacking a certain ability.

As a noun impracticable

is (obsolete) an unmanageable person.

impracticable

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice.
  • Of a passage or road: impassable.
  • (obsolete) Of a person or thing: unmanageable.
  • * {{quote-book, 1713, , The Fair Penitent citation
    • , passage=And yet this tough impracticable heart / Is govern'd by a dainty-finger'd girl ;
  • * {{quote-book, c. 1841, , Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks, year_published=1960 citation
    • , passage=H. is a person of extraordinary health & vigor, of unerring perception, & equal expression; and yet he is impracticable , and does not flow through his pen or (in any of our legitimate aqueducts) through his tongue.}}

    Antonyms

    * (impossible or difficult in practice) practicable

    Derived terms

    * impracticability * impracticableness * impracticably

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An unmanageable person.
  • * {{quote-book, 1829, Henry Barkley Henderson, The Bengalee, or Sketches of Society and Manners in the East citation
    • , passage=They were not allowed, of course, to join us in the sitting room, partly that their practice might not be disturbed, but principally, that I was looked upon as an utter impracticable . }}
  • * {{quote-book, 1867, , Famous Americans of Recent Times citation
    • , passage=The strict constructionists had dwindled to a few impracticables , headed by John Randolph. }}
  • * {{quote-book, 1870, , Society and Solitude citation
    • , passage=Then there are the gladiators, to whom it is always a battle ; 'tis no matter on which side, they fight for victory; then the heady men, the egotists, the monotones, the steriles, and the impracticables .}}

    unable

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Not able; lacking a certain ability.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 21, author=Tom Rostance, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Fulham 0-5 Man Utd , passage=Fulham switched off as Giggs took a quick corner to Valencia. He played it back to Giggs, whose cross was headed in by Nani with the lurking Rooney unable to add a touch. }}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
    • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.}}
    Are you unable to mind your own business or something?

    Antonyms

    * able

    Anagrams

    *