ext_147905 ([identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] 1word1day2010-09-30 07:28 am
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incompossible

incompossible (in-kom-POS-si-buhl) - adj., not possible together, wholly incompatible or inconsistent.


A stronger word than incompatible, which suggests that two things can't be with each other ("not congruent" as one dictionary puts it) -- incompossible suggests not just they can't be in proximity but can't both exist at the same time. Not rare if not obsolete, which is a pity as sometimes you want a stronger word than incompatible. From Latin incompossibilis, but possibly under the influence of French incompossible -- the roots break down as in-, not + com-, together + possibilis, possible, from posse, to be able.

I told my kids last week about the engagement -- Brad just sorta shrugged but Charlene still refuses to accept it, insisting that she and Felicity are incompossible and she'll never accept her as her mother.


Administrivia: I won't be able to post next Thursday -- can any of our eager volunteer backups take over for the 7th of October?

---L.

Well... alright...

[identity profile] brassknight86.livejournal.com 2010-10-01 04:51 pm (UTC)(link)
ps: You're still right about the incompossibility of particles though. I thought about it a minute and "mutually exclusive" does not sum it up very concisely.

...I've also heard of fermions (though I haven't read extensively and don't understand them at all) -- I just worked myself into a dramatic mood and wanted to make a point which is that "incompossible" has a connotative thrust from the word "possible" embedded in it.