impossibly

«impossibly» in Mova's school dictionary: in a way that cannot happen or be done — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adverb (impossibly)

meaning for a pupil

1) Impossibly means in a way that cannot happen or be done. tree →

2) Impossibly also means extremely or unbelievably, so much that it seems impossible: «impossibly tall». tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday talk and stories it exaggerates: «impossibly hard», «impossibly beautiful». In maths it can point to a real impossibility, but usually it just means «very, very». Phrases: «impossibly difficult», «impossibly tall», «impossibly fast».

examples

• The giraffe's neck looked impossibly long. tree →
• The puzzle was impossibly hard, so we asked for a hint. tree →
• The skyscraper rose impossibly high into the clouds. tree →
• Her handwriting was impossibly small. tree →
• The magician seemed to float impossibly above the stage. tree →
• The queue for the ride was impossibly long. tree →
• The cake was impossibly delicious. tree →

note

Adverb from «impossible». Usually goes before an adjective. Often an exaggeration, so in a story it does not mean the thing truly cannot happen. Not the same as «impossible»: «It is impossible» (adjective), «impossibly hard» (adverb).

In the corpora

• Many players who seem impossibly good have simply practised for a very long time.
• Saturn is the least dense planet, less dense than water, so in an impossibly huge bath it would float.
• Saturn is less dense than water, so in an impossibly huge bath it would float.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «impossibly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.