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impractical Definition

im·prac·ti·cal (im prak′ti kəl)

adjective

not practical; specif.,

  1. not workable or useful; impracticable
  2. not handling practical matters well
  3. given to theorizing; idealistic

impractical Related Forms
im·prac′·ti·cal′·ity noun or im·prac′·ti·cal·ness im·prac′·ti·cally adverb
impractical Synonyms

impractical

modif.

unrealistic, unworkable, unreal, improbable, illogical, unreasonable, impracticable, inefficacious, ineffective, speculative, absurd, wild, quixotic, chimerical, abstract, theoretical, impossible, idealistic, infeasible, unfeasible, unwise, out of the question, useless; see also visionary 1.

Antonyms practical*, useful*, reasonable.

impractical Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: The high yield in gravels may make the method impractical.

Modifies a noun

  • idea: Perhaps a rather impractical idea that one, but I think an interesting notion all the same.
  • solution: For example, issues of space and maintenance for hardware as well as costs may make this an impractical solution for the long term.

Modifying Another Word

  • wildly: The first car to use this system, the Insight, was wildly impractical.
  • technically: Removing the contaminated soils was technically impractical, and removing contaminated ground water did not address the source of the contaminants.
  • somewhat: Are somewhat impractical flying back to the northern quest of the event.
  • totally: This is totally impractical in every sense of the word.
  • utterly: Within the space of a book review, to detail all the fictions piled into " Secret World " is utterly impractical.
  • wholly: It would be wholly impractical to legislate for all possibilities.

Infinitive complement

  • implement: In practice, such extensions to the piece turned out to be impractical to implement during the time available.
  • expect: Ofcom accepts that it would be impractical to expect network news operations to be based outside London.
  • attempt: However there may be difficult situations where it is impractical to attempt reducing gains to the " norm " .
  • stop: A spokesman for Acpo said it would be impractical to stop hunts in full flow.
  • try: Clearly, it would be inappropriate and impractical to try and cover all such tests under regulations designed to address genetic testing.
  • put: However it is impractical to put these symbols on some products and on others they wear away.

Used with adjective complement

  • prove: Where it proves impractical to test cull animals a full herd test must be carried out annually.
  • seem: Don't think I'd wear one out and about tho, seems impractical as my forehead is very rarely attacked.
  • become: However, the eight mile trip from the main farm had become increasingly impractical.
  • consider: Control of flies outdoors in their breeding areas is considered impractical.

Preposition: for

  • reason: I was up in the clouds: full of fleeting ideas, which were often impractical for reasons which I had not perceived.