Meanings
- not comparableThat cannot be achieved (or only with great difficulty).
Driver training has yet to take place, making SWR's promise of entry into passenger service this year looking unachievable.
2021 November 3, Paul Clifton, “Network News: Rolling stock concerns as '701s' "not fit for purpose"”, in RAIL, number 943, page 211 more example
However, the limitations of a storytelling project such as this seems to be that the notion of validation is unachievable mainly because it falls short of the so-called 'Hitchens's razor': that 'that which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence'.
2015 October 23, Cillian McGrattan, The Politics of Trauma and Peace-Building: Lessons from Northern Ireland, Abington; New York: Routledge, →ISBN, page 2
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveimpossible to achieve
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*né
- Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
- Proto-Germanic*un-
- Proto-West Germanic*un-
- Old Englishun-
- Middle Englishun-
- Englishun-
- Middle Englishachieven
- Englishachieve
- Englishachievable
- Englishunachievable
From un- + achievable.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian непостижим
- непостижим (nepostižim)that cannot be achieved
Chinese Mandarin 无法实现的, 无法完成的
- 无法实现的that cannot be achieved
- 无法完成的that cannot be achieved
Czech nedosažitelný
- nedosažitelnýthat cannot be achieved
Finnish saavuttamaton
- saavuttamatonthat cannot be achieved
Russian недостижи́мый
- недостижи́мый (nedostižímyj)that cannot be achieved
Spanish inalcanzable, ilograble
- inalcanzablethat cannot be achieved
- ilograblethat cannot be achieved
Cite this entry
unachievable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unachievable
“unachievable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unachievable. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unachievable,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unachievable.
Source: unachievable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.