What's the difference between impossible and incapable?

Impossible


Definition:

  • (a.) Not possible; incapable of being done, of existing, etc.; unattainable in the nature of things, or by means at command; insuperably difficult under the circumstances; absurd or impracticable; not feasible.
  • (n.) An impossibility.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The size of Florida makes the kind of face-to-face politics of the earlier contests impossible, requiring instead huge ad spending.
  • (2) It was considered worthwhile to report this case due to the problems which arose concerning the choice of a thoracic rather than abdominal route owing to the impossibility of associating cardiomyotomy with anti-reflux plastica surgery because of the reduced dimensions of the stomach.
  • (3) During periods of wet steam it was impossible to maintain consistent sterility of the mouse pellets even using a cycle of 126 degrees C for 60 minutes.
  • (4) It is stated, that it is impossible to strive to effectively control the smoking habit neither by way of the consulting hours for smokers nor by means of the 5-days-plans.
  • (5) It’s impossible to understand why they don’t hold a PRB every single day.
  • (6) The contra-indications for them are: 1. a better visual acuity with spectacles than with contact lenses, 2. advanced cases (4th degree of Amsler) whose fitting is impossible, 3. unilateral keratoconus, 4. associated diseases such as trachomatous pannus, allergic kerato-conjunctivitis.
  • (7) Not long ago the comeback would have been impossible to imagine.
  • (8) It is often difficult if not impossible to include a pediatric patient in the planning of burn reconstruction.
  • (9) But leading British doctors Sarah Creighton , consultant gynaecologist at the private Portland Hospital, Susan Bewley , consultant obstetrician at St Thomas's and Lih-Mei Liao , clinical psychologist in women's health at University College Hospital then wrote to the journal countering that his clitoral restoration claims were "anatomically impossible".
  • (10) "I have tried to borrow the money, but it was simply impossible."
  • (11) It appears impossible to define a "positive" tilt test that would adequately identify patients with clinically significant dehydration or blood loss; this is due to the large variance in patients' orthostatic measurements both in a healthy and in an ill state and the lack of a significant correlation of orthostatic measurements to a level of dehydration.
  • (12) The grand patriarch, battling dissent and delusion, coming in for another shot, a new king on the throne, an impossible future to face down.
  • (13) Contrary to the claims of some commentators, such as Steve Vladeck , it is impossible to argue reasonably that the memo imposed a requirement of "infeasibility of capture" on Obama's assassination power.
  • (14) Clearly, it is impossible to combine the diverse information briefly outlined in this review to provide a coherent model of the regulation of globin gene expression during development.
  • (15) This report emphasizes the value of intensive investigation before surgery, since it may be impossible to identify the site of bleeding at laparotomy.
  • (16) It is as yet impossible to judge how far routine magnetic resonance imaging will supplant or complement CT in making the initial clinical diagnosis.
  • (17) She said it was impossible to attribute the increase in Indigenous women’s incarceration rates to one specific factor, but law and order policies of federal and state governments should be examined.
  • (18) It was impossible to distinguish the type of drug used for inhibition of EIA if it caused bronchodilatation at rest.
  • (19) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Columnist Jonathan Freedland and economics editor Larry Elliott discuss the late-night deal that the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has agreed to When it comes to the now-abandoned Thessaloniki Programme, the radical manifesto on which Alexis Tsipras came to power, there is always talk of implementing it “from below”: that is, demanding so many workers’ rights inside the industries designated for privatisation that it becomes impossible; or implementing the minimum wage through wildcat strikes.
  • (20) It was impossible to trace the axons originating in the NLT, since the cyto- and axoplasm could not be stained specifically.

Incapable


Definition:

  • (a.) Wanting in ability or qualification for the purpose or end in view; not large enough to contain or hold; deficient in physical strength, mental or moral power, etc.; not capable; as, incapable of holding a certain quantity of liquid; incapable of endurance, of comprehension, of perseverance, of reform, etc.
  • (a.) Not capable of being brought to do or perform, because morally strong or well disposed; -- used with reference to some evil; as, incapable of wrong, dishonesty, or falsehood.
  • (a.) Not in a state to receive; not receptive; not susceptible; not able to admit; as, incapable of pain, or pleasure; incapable of stain or injury.
  • (a.) Unqualified or disqualified, in a legal sense; as, a man under thirty-five years of age is incapable of holding the office of president of the United States; a person convicted on impeachment is thereby made incapable of holding an office of profit or honor under the government.
  • (a.) As a term of disgrace, sometimes annexed to a sentence when an officer has been cashiered and rendered incapable of serving his country.
  • (n.) One who is morally or mentally weak or inefficient; an imbecile; a simpleton.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Absorption of this serum with embryo cells eliminated cytotoxicity against MCA-2 and MCA-12 cells, but was incapable of lowering the titer against MCA-3 cells below 1:40.
  • (2) CP analogues that lacked the NH group at N3 or were otherwise incapable of alkyl isocyanate release were inactive.
  • (3) An analysis of 22 non-invasive EPEC TnphoA mutants revealed that seven have insertions in the EAF plasmid and are incapable of localized adherence.
  • (4) Exact comparisons of recovery of ocular tone (Maddox Wing test) between the anaesthetics were not possible as both Althesin and methohexitone rendered some patients incapable of taking the tests in the early post-operative period.
  • (5) Similarly, the fetus is an ideal recipient of allogeneic fetal cells as it is incapable of rejecting them early in gestation.
  • (6) Myocardial perfusion is best evaluated at rest and during exercise, however, alternative methods have been sought to increase coronary blood flow in patients incapable of performing adequate exercise.
  • (7) Cocaine was considered incapable of producing dependence in 1980 but was recently proclaimed the drug of greatest national health concern.
  • (8) We have documented that the profoundly depressed postcardiotomy left ventricle, initially incapable of ejection, can recover during total left ventricular unloading with the abdominal left ventricular assist device support over a seven-day period.
  • (9) Results are presented which show that the D-xylose isomerases present in Streptomyces olivaceus and Streptomyces phaeochromogenes NRRL B-3559 are incapable of utilizing D-lyxose as a substrate.
  • (10) In contrast, all three molecules were incapable of inducing IFN-alpha when added into either purified monocyte or lymphocyte cultures.
  • (11) Extracts of liver and lung were incapable of catabolizing any of the analogues.
  • (12) In fact the then president, Amadou Toumani Touré, known as "ATT" more out of derision than any sense of affection, was viewed as deeply corrupt and incapable of delivering the changes that Mali – still one of the five least-developed countries in the world – needed.
  • (13) On Thursday, conservative analyst Ross Douthat wrote: “A party whose leading factions often seemed incapable of budging from 1980s-era dogma suddenly caved completely.” On Friday, former top Barack Obama strategist David Axelrod tweeted : “The Day After: seems as if @GOP establishment is measuring @realDonaldTrump as a moldable vessel.
  • (14) I seem incapable of capturing the stories of those I meet.
  • (15) It can bring about specialized transduction of proAB and phoE mutants of E. coli, but it is incapable of general transduction.
  • (16) It said Damascus had proved itself "incapable of using its weapons systems proportionately or discriminately" and had fired lethal Scud missiles against its own cities, such as Aleppo.
  • (17) In the 1990s he was almost incapable of not writing a masterpiece – The Human Stain, The Plot Against America, I Married a Communist.
  • (18) Methaemoglobin is incapable of transporting oxygen.
  • (19) Sheep infection trials indicate that the PLD-negative C. pseudotuberculosis strain (Toxminus) is incapable of inducing caseous lymphadentis (cheesy gland) even at doses two logs higher than that at which the wild-type strain produces the disease.
  • (20) Cotransformants of yeast cells by two partially homologous plasmids, one of which is incapable of autonomous replication, has been used to construct multiply marked recombinant plasmids.