unsurmountable
adjective
Simple meaning
Not able to be surmounted or overcome.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnsermowntuhbuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənsɚˈmaʊntəbəl
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Not capable of being surmounted or overcome
archaicrare
Insurmountable
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Not capable of being surmounted or overcome
Used this way, unsurmountable is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Not capable of being surmounted or overcome.
Not capable of being conquered or vanquished or overcome.
Incapable of being overcome or surmounted.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: not capable of being surmounted or overcome
Antonyms
Sense: not capable of being surmounted or overcome
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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.