Standard Lemma guide

insurmountable

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Mid-Atlantic, US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N S ER0 M AW1 N T AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Incapable of being passed over, surmounted, or overcome; insuperable

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Getting everybody to agree proved to be an insurmountable difficulty.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unsurmountable

Antonyms: surmountable

2

adjective

Meaning 2

not capable of being surmounted or overcome

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • insurmountable disadvantages

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unsurmountable

Antonyms: surmountable

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

impossible to surmount

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: insuperable

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- English surmount Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dhlom Proto-Indo-European *-dhlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English surmountable English insurmountable From in- + surmountable.

Across languages

Translations

49 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: неадо́льны (njeadólʹny) — incapable of being passed over
  • Belarusian: непераадо́льны (njepjeraadólʹny) — incapable of being passed over
  • Bulgarian: непреодоли́м (nepreodolím) — incapable of being passed over
  • Catalan: insuperable — incapable of being passed over
  • Chinese Mandarin: 無法克服的 /无法克服的 (wúfǎ kèfú de) — incapable of being passed over
  • Czech: nepřekonatelný — incapable of being passed over
  • Dutch: onoverkomelijk — incapable of being passed over
  • Finnish: ylipääsemätön — incapable of being passed over
  • Finnish: ylitsepääsemätön — incapable of being passed over
  • French: insurmontable — incapable of being passed over
  • French: infranchissable — incapable of being passed over
  • French: impassable — incapable of being passed over
  • German: unüberwindlich — incapable of being passed over
  • German: unüberwindbar — incapable of being passed over
  • Greek: ανυπέρβλητος (anypérvlitos) — incapable of being passed over
  • Greek: αξεπέραστος (axepérastos) — incapable of being passed over
  • Hungarian: leküzdhetetlen — incapable of being passed over
  • Hungarian: legyőzhetetlen — incapable of being passed over
  • Hungarian: áthághatatlan — incapable of being passed over
  • Hungarian: áthidalhatatlan — incapable of being passed over
  • Irish: dochloíte — incapable of being passed over
  • Irish: dosháraithe — incapable of being passed over
  • Latin: inēluctābilis — incapable of being passed over
  • Latin: insuperābilis — incapable of being passed over
  • Macedonian: несовладлив (nesovladliv) — incapable of being passed over
  • Macedonian: непремостлив (nepremostliv) — incapable of being passed over
  • Norwegian Bokmål: uoverstigelig — incapable of being passed over
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: uoverstigeleg — incapable of being passed over
  • Polish: nieprzezwyciężony — incapable of being passed over
  • Polish: nie do pokonania — incapable of being passed over
  • Portuguese: insuperável — incapable of being passed over
  • Portuguese: inexorável — incapable of being passed over
  • Romanian: insurmontabil — incapable of being passed over
  • Russian: непреодоли́мый (nepreodolímyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Russian: неодоли́мый (neodolímyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Slovene: nepremostljiv — incapable of being passed over
  • Slovene: nepremagljiv — incapable of being passed over
  • Spanish: insalvable — incapable of being passed over
  • Spanish: insuperable — incapable of being passed over
  • Spanish: infranqueable — incapable of being passed over
  • Swedish: oöverstiglig — incapable of being passed over
  • Turkish: aşılamaz — incapable of being passed over
  • Ukrainian: неперебо́рний (neperebórnyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Ukrainian: непобо́рний (nepobórnyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Ukrainian: непобори́мий (nepoborýmyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Ukrainian: незбори́мий (nezborýmyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Ukrainian: незбо́рний (nezbórnyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Ukrainian: нездола́нний (nezdolánnyj) — incapable of being passed over
  • Ukrainian: неперемо́жний (neperemóžnyj) — incapable of being passed over