impractical, a.
(ɪmˈpræktɪkəl)
[f. im-2 + practical.]
Not practical; unpractical. Also = impracticable a.
| 1865 J. S. Mill in Morn. Star 6 July, ‘How injudicious!’ said one; ‘How impractical!’ said another. 1875 Merivale Hist. Rome xl. (1877) 294 A rigid and impractical declaimer. 1887 G. Gissing Thyrza I. xi. 228 He is..I'm afraid, so very, very impractical. 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. (1926) I. i. ii. 11 For Clyde's parents had proved impractical in the matter of the future of their children. 1929 Amer. Speech IV. 331 ‘Impractical’..is more commonly used than either ‘unpractical’, or ‘impracticable’, as it seems to squint and have both meanings. 1931 J. T. Adams Epic of Amer. iv. 112 So impractical was American cotton culture considered that..England seized eight bales. 1947 E. W. F. Feller Instrument & Control Manual p. vii, The number of units to be controlled in a single plant all tend to render hand control impractical if not impossible. 1962 E. Godfrey Retail Selling & Organiz. ii. 21 On a busy ground floor, carpeting would be impractical. 1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Ling. i. 2 As an impractical ideal he [sc. the general linguist] would know something about every language. 1970 Daily Tel. 4 May 2/7 The scheme was reckoned to be the next best to transferable pensions, which the Government believes to be impractical at the moment. 1973 Sci. Amer. Mar. 113/2 The second calculating method..is too complicated and impractical to explain here. |