insoluble

«insoluble» in Mova's school dictionary: Not able to dissolve in a liquid, usually water: sand is… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (insoluble; US also insolvable for problems)

meaning for a pupil

1) (science) Not able to dissolve in a liquid, usually water: sand is insoluble in water. tree →

2) Impossible to solve or answer: an insoluble problem. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons on materials and mixtures, pupils test whether substances are soluble (salt, sugar) or insoluble (sand, chalk, oil); insoluble solids can be separated by filtering. In maths and stories, an insoluble puzzle has no solution. Phrases: insoluble in water, insoluble problem.

examples

• Sand is insoluble in water, so we can filter it out. tree →
• Salt is soluble, but chalk is insoluble. tree →
• Oil is insoluble in water and floats on top. tree →
• The mystery seemed insoluble until the detective found a clue. tree →
• Some maths puzzles are truly insoluble. tree →
• Insoluble fibre in food helps digestion. tree →

note

Opposite: «soluble». In science, insoluble in water does not mean insoluble in everything: oil paint dissolves in white spirit. For problems, «unsolvable» is more common in everyday speech.

Trees and pragmatics

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