Meanings
- not comparablehuman sciencesAs is impossible.
If, per impossibile, large economic inequalities did not threaten political, legal, and social equality, they would be much less objectionable.
1979, Thomas Nagel, Mortal Questions, essay 8: “Equality”, page 1071 more example
Moreover it is evident that all incomplete syllogisms are completed by means of the first figure, for all of them are concluded, either ostensively or per impossible, but in both ways the first figure is produced […]
1853 [c. 350 BCE], Aristotle, translated by Octavius Freire Owen, The Organon, or Logical Treatises of Aristotle, volume 1, London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, translation of original in Ancient Greek, page 98
Origin
- Latinper impossibile
- Englishper impossibile
Borrowed from Latin per impossibile.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
per impossibile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/per%20impossibile
“per impossibile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/per%20impossibile. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “per impossibile,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/per%20impossibile.
Source: per impossibile on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.