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Unattainable vs Impracticable - What's the difference?

unattainable | impracticable |

As adjectives the difference between unattainable and impracticable

is that unattainable is impossible to attain or reach; inaccessible, unobtainable or unapproachable; unable to accomplish; beyond limit while impracticable is not practicable; impossible or difficult in practice.

As nouns the difference between unattainable and impracticable

is that unattainable is anything that cannot be attained while impracticable is (obsolete) an unmanageable person.

unattainable

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Impossible to attain or reach; inaccessible, unobtainable or unapproachable; unable to accomplish; beyond limit.

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything that cannot be attained.

    • 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 .}}