insuperable
adjective
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Insuperable is a super word: that is, it belongs to a family of English terms that come from the Latin word super, meaning "over." It first appeared in print in the 14th century, and as a close synonym of insurmountable, it still essentially means what it did then. Insuperable comes directly from the Latin word insuperabilis, which was formed by combining the negative prefix in- with the verb superare (which comes from super and means "to surmount, overcome, or excel") and the adjective abilis (meaning "able"). Hence, insuperabilis means "unable to be surmounted, overcome, or passed over," or more simply, "insurmountable." The word can describe physical barriers that cannot be scaled (such as walls or mountains) as well as more figurative obstacles.
Synonyms
Examples of insuperable in a Sentence
The Week Uk, theweek, 27 Apr. 2024
There was an inscription underneath, from the great scholar’s Nobel lecture:
The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought indeed to teach the student of society a lesson of humility which should guard him against becoming an accomplice in men’s fatal striving to control society.
—Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 18 Sep. 2023
That the songs don’t match the story structurally is probably an insuperable problem.
—Jesse Green, New York Times, 27 July 2023
Frye seeks to show how the Kremlin’s actions are the result of countless tradeoffs and difficult choices, rather than the expression of an omnipotent ruler’s whims or an insuperable historical legacy.
—Timothy Frye, Foreign Affairs, 20 Apr. 2021
So when Mayor de Blasio’s administration, which had not raised insuperable objections during nearly five years of community consultation, suddenly swapped the plan for what officials decided was a more technically sound one, the switch did more than infuriate residents.
—New York Times, 2 Dec. 2021
Two women who are attached to their cultural roots yet alienated by the conservative values of their communities hold for each other the answer to problems that until now have seemed insuperable.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2023
In Céspedes’s book, the family is insuperable.
—Roxana Robinson, Washington Post, 2 Feb. 2023
But replacing heroes with anti-heroes does little to alter the narrative about how a handful of geniuses have changed the world through their insuperable intelligence; the genre continues to trade on a deep desire to make myths about the men behind the machines.
—Moira Weigel, The New Republic, 20 Dec. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'insuperable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near insuperable
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“Insuperable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insuperable. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
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insuperable
adjective
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