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impractical

adjective

Simple meaning

Not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ihmpraktuhkuhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɪmpˈɹæktəkəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters

    “Refloating the ship proved impractical because of the expense.”

  2. Not practical; impracticable.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: Not practical; not workable or not given to practical matters

Used this way, impractical is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“Refloating the ship proved impractical because of the expense.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use impractical

  • “Refloating the ship proved impractical because of the expense.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

highly impracticalusually impracticaltotally impractical

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.