Insolvables

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Referring to individuals or entities unable to pay their debts or settle financial obligations; describing problems or equations that cannot be solved or resolved; characterizing situations or substances that cannot be dissolved or broken down physically
2. Describing persons or organizations lacking sufficient assets to cover liabilities; indicating questions or puzzles that defy solution; relating to materials or compounds resistant to dissolution in a solvent
3. Pertaining to parties that are legally or financially unable to meet repayment demands; denoting challenges or issues that have no feasible answer; referring to items or elements that remain intact without dissolving in a given medium

Etymology: "Insolvables" is the plural of "insolvable," an adjective meaning "impossible to solve," which entered English in the 1600s from Late Latin "insolubilis," built from the negative prefix "in-" and "solubilis," "able to be loosened or dissolved," from "solvere," "to loosen." The original sense was physical: something that could not be dissolved or melted, and the metaphor of untying a knot gave the later meaning of an unsolvable problem. The noun plural "insolvables" is less common and mostly appears in the phrase-like sense of a set of unanswerable questions or problems, especially in philosophy and puzzle writing. It is a plural of the adjective used as a noun, the same pattern as "the unknowables" or "the impossibles," and it takes its meaning from the adjective's long-established sense of hard problems that resist resolution.

Synonyms: bankrupts, debtors, failures, defaulters, liabilities

Antonyms: solvents, payees, creditors, wealthy, prosperous