different between narrow vs impenetrable
narrow
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?næ???/
- (General American) IPA(key): /?næ?o?/, /?n??o?/
- (Mary–marry–merry distinction)
- (Mary–marry–merry merger)
- Rhymes: -ær??
Etymology 1
From Middle English narow, narowe, narewe, narwe, naru, from Old English nearu (“narrow, strait, confined, constricted, not spacious, limited, petty; limited, poor, restricted; oppressive, causing anxiety (of that which restricts free action of body or mind), causing or accompanied by difficulty, hardship, oppressive; oppressed, not having free action; strict, severe”), from Proto-Germanic *narwaz (“constricted, narrow”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ner- (“to turn, bend, twist, constrict”). Cognate with Scots naro, narow, narrow (“narrow”), North Frisian naar, noar, noor (“narrow”), Saterland Frisian noar (“bleak, dismal, meager, ghastly, unwell”), Saterland Frisian Naarwe (“scar”), West Frisian near (“narrow”), Dutch naar (“dismal, bleak, ill, sick”), Low German naar (“dismal, ghastly”), German Narbe (“scar”), Norwegian norve (“a clip, staple”), Icelandic njörva- (“narrow-”, in compounds).
Adjective
narrow (comparative narrower, superlative narrowest)
- Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
- Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
- 1675, John Wilkins, Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion
- The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.
- 1675, John Wilkins, Of the Principles and Duties of Natural Religion
- (figuratively) Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.
- Contracted; of limited scope; bigoted
- Having a small margin or degree.
- (dated) Limited as to means; straitened
- narrow circumstances
- Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
- a. 1719, George Smalridge, The Hopes of a Recompense from Men must not be our chief Aim in doing Good
- a very narrow […] and stinted charity
- a. 1719, George Smalridge, The Hopes of a Recompense from Men must not be our chief Aim in doing Good
- Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
- (phonetics) Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.
Antonyms
- wide
- broad
Related terms
- narrowly
- narrowness
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
narrow (plural narrows)
- (chiefly in the plural) A narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.
- 1858', William Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age
- Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow.
- 1858', William Gladstone, Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age
Etymology 2
From Middle English narwen (“to narrow”); see there for more details, but ultimately derived from the noun.
Verb
narrow (third-person singular simple present narrows, present participle narrowing, simple past and past participle narrowed)
- (transitive) To reduce in width or extent; to contract.
- (intransitive) To get narrower.
- (of a person or eyes) To partially lower one's eyelids in a way usually taken to suggest a defensive, aggressive or penetrating look.
- (knitting) To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
- (transitive, programming) To convert to a data type that cannot hold as many distinct values.
- Antonym: widen
Synonyms
- taper
Derived terms
- narrow down
- renarrow
Translations
narrow From the web:
- what narrow means
- what narrows blood vessels
- what narrows a confidence interval
- what narrows arteries
- what narrows voter polls
- what narrows the width of a confidence interval
- what narrow islands are formed by deposition
- what narrow angle glaucoma
impenetrable
English
Etymology
From Middle French impenetrable, from Latin impenetrabilis.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?m?p?n?t??b?l/, /?m?p?n?t??b?l/
- Hyphenation: im?pen?e?tra?ble
Adjective
impenetrable (not comparable)
- Not penetrable.
- The fortress is impenetrable, so it cannot be taken.
- The avalanche spread and stopped, locking everything it carried into an icy cocoon. It was now a jagged, virtually impenetrable pile of ice, longer than a football field and nearly as wide.
- (figuratively) Incomprehensible; fathomless; inscrutable.
- Business jargon makes this document impenetrable, I can't understand it.
- Opaque; obscure; not translucent or transparent.
- When night falls, she cloaks the world in impenetrable darkness.
Synonyms
- (not penetrable): impregnable, unfathomable
- (incomprehensible): See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible
Antonyms
- (not penetrable): penetrable, pregnable, fathomable
- (incomprehensible): See also Thesaurus:comprehensible
Translations
Catalan
Etymology
From Latin impenetr?bilis.
Adjective
impenetrable (masculine and feminine plural impenetrables)
- impenetrable
Further reading
- “impenetrable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “impenetrable” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
- “impenetrable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “impenetrable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Spanish
Etymology
From Latin impenetr?bilis.
Adjective
impenetrable (plural impenetrables)
- impenetrable
Further reading
- “impenetrable” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.
impenetrable From the web:
- impenetrable meaning
- impenetrable what is the definition
- what does impenetrable mean
- what does impenetrable fog do in gwent
- what does impenetrable darkness mean
- what does impenetrable mean in the bible
- what is impenetrable barrier
- what does impenetrable mean dictionary
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