unattainable

«unattainable» in Mova's school dictionary: Impossible to reach, achieve or get — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (unattainable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Impossible to reach, achieve or get. tree →

2) (of a person, informal) Seeming too far above you to be friends or go out with. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life and school: an unattainable goal, unattainable standards. In PSHE: pictures online can show unattainable bodies or lifestyles, often edited. In maths: an unattainable score is one that can't happen with the rules (e.g. 11 out of 10). Phrases: «an unattainable goal», «seemingly unattainable», «unattainable standards».

examples

• Getting every single question right seemed an unattainable goal. tree →
• The top shelf was unattainable without a ladder. tree →
• Some adverts show unattainable perfection. tree →
• For a beginner, a black belt can feel unattainable, but step by step it's possible. tree →
• With only two dice, a score of 13 is unattainable. tree →
• The mountain peak looked unattainable in the snow. tree →

note

Built from un- + attain (reach) + -able. Opposite: «attainable», «achievable». In maths, check what is possible: two ordinary dice give scores 2 to 12, so 1 and 13 are unattainable.

In the corpora

• Wisdom is as unattainable to a fool as corals; he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

Trees and pragmatics

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