imponderable
UK /ɪmˈpɒndəɹəbl/ · US /ɪmˈpɑːndəɹəbl/ adjective, noun
Forms imponderables
- adjective Not ponderable; without sensible or appreciable weight; incapable of being weighed.
- adjective Difficult or impossible to comprehend or evaluate.
- noun (physics) A substance or body, which is not ponderable, i.e., which not does not having a detectable amount of matter or measurable mass. An imponderable substance or body; specifically, in the plural, a name formerly applied to heat, light, electricity, and magnetism.
- noun An imponderable question.
- noun A factor that cannot be anticipated.
Antonyms
Etymology
Pref. im- not + ponderable: cf. F. impondérable.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Not ponderable; without sensible or appreciable weight; incapable of being weighed.
- noun An imponderable substance or body; specifically, in the plural, a name formely applied to heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, regarded as subtile flyids destitute of weight but in modern science little used.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “imponderable”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details