Word Finder - impassable

definition

(of a route, terrain, etc.) Incapable of being passed over, crossed, or negotiated.

definition

(of an obstacle) Incapable of being overcome or surmounted.

definition

(of currency) Not usable as legal tender.

A few of the large streams may, when in flood, spr.ead out in a temporary shallow sheet qn a dead level of clay, or playa, in a basin centre, but the sheet of water vanishes in the warm season and the stream shrinks far up its course, the absolutely barren clay floor of the playa, impassable when wet, becomes firm enough for crossing when dry.

The creek was an impassable flood in winter but easily fordable in summer.

Steamers ply on both lakes, but the channel is rendered impassable by a rapid near the town of Tipitapa, at its northern extremity.

Wide swamps, deep morasses, tangled thickets, wild impassable forests, were their prevailing features.

These plateaus, with an average elevation of Boo to 1000 ft., are mostly covered with forests of oak, beech and lime, and are deeply cut by river valleys, some being narrow and craggy, and others broad, with gentle slopes and marshy bottoms. Narrow ravines intersect them in all directions, and they often assume, especially in the east, the character of wild, impassable, woody and marshy tracts.

The roads are rough and at times almost impassable, 'however, and the river crossings difficult and dangerous.

Each class of road was named after the authority responsible for its construction and upkeep. In some of the remoter rural districts there are only bridle-paths, or rough tracks, which become almost impassable in wet seasons, and are never suitable for vehicles less solid than the Portuguese ox-carts.

On the whole, setting aside the impassable barrier between Greek and Phoenician, other distinctions of race within the island were breaking down through the spread of the Hellenic element, but among the Greek cities themselves the distinction between the Dorian and the Ionian or Chalcidian settlements was still keenly felt.

These conditions subsist with but few modifications, if any, from the Straits northward to the 42nd parallel, the extreme humidity, abnormal rainfall and dark skies being unfavourable to the development of insect life, while the Andes interpose an impassable barrier to migration from the countries of the eastern coast.

Linnaeus's primarily zoological classification of man did not, however, suit the philosophical opinion of the time, which responded more readily to the systems represented by Buffon, and later by Cuvier, in which the human mind and soul formed an impassable wall of partition between him and other mammalia, so that the definition of man's position in the animal world was treated as not belonging to zoology, but to metaphysics and theology.

To every type of coast there may be related a special type of occupation and even of character; the deep and gloomy fjord, backed by almost impassable mountains, bred bold mariners whose only outlet for enterprise was seawards towards other lands - the viks created the vikings.

Although a considerable stream in the rainy season, and often impassable, the bed is dry or nearly so during the rest of the year.

The Trengganu river is obstructed by impassable rapids at a distance of about 30 m.

The larger rivers in the wet season form impassable morasses, especially in the S.E., where the mountains rise in isolated masses from flat plains.

On the south-west they lose themselves in the sandy desert of Registan, which wraps itself round the plain of Kandahar, and forms another impassable barrier.

The higher plateaus are called paramos, cold, windswept, mist-drenched deserts, lying between the elevations of 10,000 and 15,000 ft., which are often the only passes over the Cordilleras, and yet are almost impassable because of their morasses, heavy mists, and cold, piercing winds.

The valley about Herat includes a flat alluvial plain which might, for some miles on any side except the north, be speedily reduced to an impassable swamp by means of flood-water from the surrounding canals.

In winter, most local roads became almost completely impassable.

A mountain range such as this, attaining altitudes at which vegetable life ceases, and the support of animal life is extremely difficult, constitutes an almost impassable barrier against the spread of all forms of living creatures.

Reason and thought, the essential quality of the soul, do not belong to the brutes; there is an impassable gulf fixed between man and the lower animals.

It is liable to floods, when it becomes impassable for weeks.

However, he soon realized the impossibility of treating the fathers of Basel as ordinary rebels, and tried a compromise; but as time went on, the fathers became more and more intractable, and between him and them gradually arose an impassable barrier.

Snares of another type consisting of a tangled mass of threads amongst which the spiders pick their way with ease, but which are impassable to insects, are spun by members of the Theridiidae and Pholcidae; but by common consent the so-called orbicular web, so characteristic of the Argyopidae but by no means confined to them, is regarded as manifesting the greatest perfection of instinct in snare-spinning.

That officer, crossing a swamp supposed to be impassable, attacked the rebel stockade at Kabagambi, and carried it with great gallantry.

It lies between Siam and the Bay of Bengal, enclosed by mountains on three sides, viz., the main chain of the Bilauktaung on the east, rising in places to 5000 feet, which, with its densely wooded spurs, forms an almost impassable barrier, between British and Siamese territory; the Nwahlabo in the centre, which takes its name from its loftiest peak (5000 ft.); and a third.

Although deep river channels are common, falls or impassable rapids are rare west of the Alleghany Plateau, and the state has an extensive mileage of navigable waters.

Principal Passes.-Though the Alps form a barrier they have never formed an impassable barrier, since, from the earliest days onwards, they have been traversed first, perhaps, for purposes of war or commerce, and later by pilgrims, students and tourists.

A fringe of ice generally lines the greater part of the Danish coasts on the eastern side for some time during the winter, and both the Sound and the Great Belt are at times impassable on account of ice.

These narrow limits (called Wakhan) include the lofty spurs of the northern flank of the Hindu Kush, an impassable barrier at this point, where the glacial passes reach 19,000 ft.

No broad impassable line here divided the aristocracy from the people.

The narrow straits in which the waterway connecting the Mediterranean with the Black Sea contracts, both to the north and to the south of the city, could be rendered impassable to hostile fleets approaching from either direction, while on the landward side the line of defence was so short that it could be strongly fortified, and held against large numbers by a comparatively small force.

For these reasons he marched by land; and as the roads north of the Tagus were deemed impassable for guns, while transport and supplies for a large force were also difficult to procure, he sent Sir John Hope, with the artillery, cavalry and reserve ammunition column, south of the river, through Badajoz to Almaraz, to move thence through Talavera, Madrid and the Escurial Pass, involving a considerable detour; while he himself with the infantry, marching by successive divisions, took the shorter roads north of the Tagus through Coimbra and Almeida, and also by Alcantara and Coria to Ciudad Rodrigo and Salamanca.

They wished to possess the earth and enjoy it by means of secular education and culture, and an impassable gulf yawned between their views of religion and morality and those of the Church.

Here the streams that drain the higher areas descend to the plains through narrow canyons in the mountain border, impassable for ordinary roads and difficult of entrance even by railways; a well-known example is the gorge of Clear Creek east of the Georgetown mining district.

In winter it is swampy, and in places almost impassable.

For the rest there is a network of tracks, all practically impassable by wheeled vehicles, extending over the country and connecting the towns and villages one with another.

Certain it is that they were excluded not merely from all Spartan offices of state, but even from the assembly, that they were absolutely subject to Spartan orders, and that, owing to the absence of any legal right of marriage (Eirryayia) the gulf between the two classes was impassable.

Either store of instances must be procured, or the business must be given up. All other ways, however enticing, are impassable.

The subsidence within is less rapid than the rise; and the streams are impassable for about seven months in each year.

Between their right flank and the Montenegrins on the Great Bardanjolt lay a stretch of marshy impassable country.

At least it made their traditional religion possible for those many French Catholics who clung passionately to the benefits the Revolution had brought them; and had it prevailed, it might have spared France and the world that fatal gulf between Liberalism and Catholicism which Pius IX.'s Syllabus of 1864 sought to make impassable.

The roads were until then, as a rule, merely tracks, deeply worn by ages of traffic into the semblance of ditches, and, under adverse weather conditions, impassable.

A number of scattered risings in the south were put down by Richards troops, while Buckingham, who had raised his banner in Wales, was prevented from bringing aid by a week of extraordinary rains which made the Severn impassable.

The marshes which line the Save below Sissek are often impassable except at Brod and Mitrovica, and the river is constantly scooping out fresh channels in the soft soil, only to abandon each in turn.

Lastly, to come to the bottom of the social scale, there were the common people, taxable at will, subject to the arbitrary and burdensome forced labor of the corve, cut off by an impassable barrier from the privileged classes whom they hated.

There is only one good road in the province, that from Enzeli to Kazvin by way of Resht; in other parts communication is by narrow and frequently impassable lanes through the thick forest, or by intricate pathways through the dense undergrowth.

Frequently we came upon impassable thickets which forced us to take a round about way.

Vast and impenetrable forests, impassable marches and thickets, numerous lakes, swampy meadows, with cleared and dry spaces here and there occupied by villages, are the leading features of this region.

The Nile was falling, and Kitchener decided to keep the gunboats above the impassable rapid at Um Tuir, 4 m.

It was formerly an important river port, especially for the shipment of cotton, but lost this commercial advantage when railway bridges made the river impassable.