unmöglich

Unmöglich is a German adjective meaning "impossible" or "not possible." It is used to indicate that something cannot be done, cannot occur, or is beyond feasibility under given conditions. The word is formed by adding the negating prefix un- to möglich, itself meaning "possible." It is used predicatively, as in Es ist unmöglich, and attributively, as in eine unmögliche Aufgabe. The corresponding noun is Unmöglichkeit, referring to the state of being impossible.

In everyday language, unmöglich can convey strong negation and may be used in colloquial speech for emphasis, for example unmöglich teuer (extremely expensive) or unmöglich schwer (extremely difficult). In more formal or precise contexts, synonyms such as nicht möglich, unmachbar or undurchführbar may be preferred, depending on nuance.

The term has cognates in other Germanic languages—for example Dutch onmogelijk and Swedish omöjlig—reflecting a common semantic pattern. In philosophy or logic, unmöglich can describe a proposition that entails a contradiction and is therefore logically impossible, while in probability it may be used to denote something with zero likelihood.

Unmöglichkeit is the noun form meaning "impossibility" and is used to discuss the concept as a state or condition.