adynaton
A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibilityA form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole.
Translations
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By meaning 1
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Meaning
1 senses(countable, rhetoric, uncountable)A form of hyperbole that uses exaggeration so magnified as to express impossibility; an instance of such hyperbole.
Adynaton
адинато́нadinatón
адинатонadynaton
Origin
Borrowed from Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), or directly from its etymonBorrowed from Late Latin adynaton (“impossibility; adynaton”), or directly from its etymon Ancient Greek ἀδύνατον (adúnaton, “an impossibility; impracticality”), substantivized neuter singular of ἀδύνατος (adúnatos, “unable; that cannot be done, impossible”) + -ον (-on, suffix forming nouns). The word ἀδύνατος is derived from ἀ- (a-, the alpha privative, a prefix forming words having a sense opposite to the word or stem to which it is attached) + δῠνᾰτός (dŭnătós, “mighty, strong; possible, practical”) (from δῠ́νᾰμαι (dŭ́nămai, “to be able, capable; it can be, it is possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (“to fit”)) + -τος (-tos, suffix forming verbal adjectives of possibility)).
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Forms
plural: adynata / adynatonsWord family
2 related wordsLessons for this word
2 lessons- A1Plural nouns — Because its plural is irregular
- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.