impregnable
adjective
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Impregnable is one of the many English words that bear a French ancestry, thanks to the Norman conquest of England in 1066. It derives from the Middle French verb prendre, which means "to take or capture." Combining prendre with various prefixes has given our language many other words, too, including surprise, reprise, and enterprise. Remarkably, impregnable has a different origin from the similar-looking word pregnant; that word comes from a different Latin word, praegnas, meaning "carrying a fetus."
Synonyms
Examples of impregnable in a Sentence
Judah Taub, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2024
Superstar Harmanpreet Kaur's unbelievable 171 not out that destroyed an impregnable Australia in a remarkable semi-final upset was seen as a turning point.
—Tristan Lavalette, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024
His party lost a majority of seats in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, once considered an impregnable fortress for his brand of Hindu nationalism and identity politics.
—Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Foreign Affairs, 14 June 2024
Once when told that a certain French fortress was impregnable and once when told that his mother-in-law had died.
—Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 25 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for impregnable 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'impregnable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near impregnable
Cite this Entry
“Impregnable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impregnable. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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impregnable
adjective
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