Desktop Banner Mobile Banner

impervious

resistant

TRANSLATION

impervious (to sth.) = unempfindlich, gleichgültig, immun (gegen etw.) ——- impervious surfaces = Flächenversiegelung —— impervious to bullets = kugelsicher —— impervious to water / to rain = wasserundurchlässig, wasserdicht / regendicht

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

“Yet the practicalities best explain why, in the words of Professor Chris Grey, one of the best chroniclers of our decline, a Brexit movement ‘IMPERVIOUS to reason and incapable of engaging with complexity’ has reached its terminus.”

Nick Cohen - “The British charlatan style has been sent packing by too much reality” The Guardian (2nd May 2020)


Vertically arranged in layers, the lemon groves are separated by three- to seven-meter walls made of Macere — a local limestone resistant to soil pressure and IMPERVIOUS to rain. Even today, the grove can only be reached on foot or by mules.

Carlotta Dotto - On Italy’s steep Amalfi Coast, lemon farmers jump among the treetops - CNN  (21st July 2022)

Did you
know?

impervious (to)
adjective

- if someone is impervious to something,they are not influenced or affected by something
- not capable of being affected or disturbed

- not allowing liquid to go through
- not allowing entrance or passage
- not capable of being damaged or harmed

Cambridge Dictionary / Merriam Webster


WORD ORIGIN

The word “impervious” appeared in 1640s, from Latin impervius “that cannot be passed through, impassible”.


ATTACKING IMPERVIOUS TRUMP

Donald Trump may be impervious to attacks on Twitter or by the papers he brands “fake news”, but his critics have found a real-world location in which to express their feelings: his star on Hollywood Boulevard’s "Walk of Fame”.

Trump’s terrazzo plaque, which was unveiled on 17 January 2007, has been scrawled on, and sledgehammered by protesters ever since he began his White House campaign. In 2016, an artist called Plastic Jesus built a 6in wall, complete with razor wire, around the star in a response to Trump’s aggressive policies on immigration.


SYNONYMS

- unable to be affected by something

closed, immune, impassable, impenetrable, impermeable, imperviable, IMPERVIOUS, inaccessible, invulnerable, obdurate, resistant, unaffected, unapproachable, unbending, unmovable, unmoved, unpierceable, unreceptive, unresponsive, unsusceptible, unswayable, untouched, unwavering, unyielding, watertight


SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“It’s a frustrating fact that some people are just IMPERVIOUS to reason.”


HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

and,

Paul Smith, IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40

More Word Quizzes: