Impenetrably

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. so as to be impossible to enter, traverse, or comprehend by any means
2. in such a way that nothing can pass through or be understood despite all efforts to do so
3. so as to be incapable of being entered, pierced, or comprehended by any means
4. in such a way as to resist all attempts at passage, penetration, or intellectual access

Etymology: Impenetrably is a straightforward formation: the adjective "impenetrable" with the adverbial suffix "-ly" added to the end. The adjective itself builds on a Latin base, with "in-" meaning "not" and "penetrare" meaning "to enter" or "to pierce," so the whole word means "not able to be entered or pierced." Adding "-ly" turns it into an adverb describing how something is done, as in a wall built impenetrably thick. The suffix has a longer ancestry than the Latin part. It goes back through Proto-Germanic "*-līkaz," a word meaning "body-like" or "having the form of," which came from a root shared with the word "like." Over the centuries this became Old English "-līċe" and then Middle English "-ly," so the same ending that appears in "quickly" and "boldly" is the same element that closes "impenetrably."

Synonyms: unfathomably, incomprehensibly, inscrutably

Antonyms: clearly, understandably