unworkable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ workable.

Adjective

unworkable (comparative more unworkable, superlative most unworkable)

1. Not workable.
   1. Not operable; not practical; unmanageable.

      Synonyms: inoperable, nonworking

      Antonyms: workable, practicable

      Near-synonyms: infeasible, untenable, unusable

      These plans seem unworkable; moreover, a budget for their implementation remains a fantasy.

      • 2024 March 20, Conrad Landin, “"Farcical" Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act isn't working”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 25:

        A Welsh Government spokesman said: "We are opposed to the approach being taken by the UK Government, which we feel is unnecessary, probably unworkable, and will do nothing to resolve industrial disputes.

   2. (of raw materials) Not suitable or amenable for being manipulated or transformed.

      Hypernyms: unsuitable, unamenable

      Hyponyms: untillable, unploughable; unforgeable

      Near-synonyms: unprocessable, unusable

      unworkable soils;   unworkable clays;   unworkable metals

Derived terms

• unworkability
• unworkableness
• unworkably

 

Related terms

• unworked

 

Collocations

Collocations

• unworkable system
• unworkable idea
• unworkable situation
• unworkable solution
• unworkable plan
• unworkable rule
• unworkable concept
• unworkable arrangement
• unworkable scheme
• unworkable relationship
• unworkable marriage
• unworkable theory

Translations

not workable

• Bulgarian: труден за работа (truden za rabota)
• French: inexécutable (fr)
• Greek: ανεφάρμοστος (el) (anefármostos)
• Manx: do-obbraghey
• Russian: несбы́точный (ru) (nesbýtočnyj)
• Spanish: inviable (es)

Noun

unworkable (plural unworkables)

1. Something that is not workable, or cannot be made to work.
   • 1983, Lawrence David Brown, Politics and Health Care Organization: HMOs as Federal Policy:

     The building of the consensus group, however, forced these interests to distinguish annoying features of the law from unworkable ones, and the list of the unworkables steadily dwindled.

   • 2004, Don Aslett, The Office Clutter Cure, page 44:

     We all have some secret little hope that the unworkables will be resurrected. You haven't seen any of the occupants of the pyramids pull this off yet, nor will you see any use for old, outdated, dead office stuff.

   • 2011, Terry Kay, Bogmeadow's Wish, page 33:

     His effort at maintaining a casual relationship was one of the unworkables in his life. Ealy had once observed that friends may become lovers, but lovers could never be friends.

Further reading

• “unworkable”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “unworkable”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “unworkable”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “unworkable” (US) / “unworkable” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.