| 词组 | impractical, impracticable |
| 释义 | impractical, impracticable Impracticable applies to what is not feasible: • "... a delicious idea, but so impracticable it doesn't really bear thinking about at all." —Roald Dahl, Someone Like You, 1953 • ... numerous uncertainties made a single chronological order impracticable —Times Literary Supp., 16 Apr. 1970 Impractical is a 19th-century word that was quite rare when the OED was originally edited. It has since outstripped the older ( 17th-century) impracticable in use. It is sometimes just an antonym of practical: • For Clyde's parents had proved impractical in the matter of the future of their children —Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy, 1925 (OED Supplement) It may be applied to what has no practical value: • ... in fact, "book learning" beyond the Three R's was historically considered somewhat impractical — Tom Wicker, Change, September 1971 • ... living austerely and owning little, but rich in impractical and priceless honor —William Laurence Sullivan, Epigrams and Criticisms in Miniature, 1936 It is also used for what is not feasible: • Even the largest of cargo planes can carry but a fraction of the tonnage of a cargo ship and many cargoes are of such a nature as to make air transportation entirely impractical —California Maritime Academy General Catalog, 1969-1970 • Visits ... were impractical for a considerable number of students living in isolated areas —Peter J. Smith, Saturday Rev., 29 Apr. 1972 Impractical is easier to pronounce and spell than impracticable; that fact may in the future make it even more dominant than it already is. |
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