the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. The quality of being impossible; impracticability.
n. An impossible thing; that which is not possible; that which can not be thought, done, or endured.
n. Inability; helplessness.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. The quality of being impossible; incapability of being or being done.
n. That which is impossible; that which cannot be or be done.
n. Helplessness; impotence.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. incapability of existing or occurring
n. an alternative that is not available
Word Usage
"This impossibility is articulated in all sorts of familiar assumptions about the inherent, essential properties of the various media and their proper or appropriate modes of perception."