Insurableness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state of being impossible to overcome or conquer; the characteristic of being incapable of being surmounted or defeated; the condition of presenting insuperable difficulties or obstacles
2. A state describing something that cannot be successfully dealt with or resolved; the attribute of resisting surmounting efforts or solutions; the nature of being beyond reach or mastery
3. The property of proving too formidable to master or overcome; the situation in which challenges or barriers cannot be surpassed; the essence of being unassailable or undone by effort

Etymology: "Insurable" is the adjective, and "insureableness" in its ordinary sense means the quality of being able to be insured against loss, not of being unbeatable. The supplied meaning about barriers that cannot be overcome does not match this word's usage. Its root is a word that once meant the same as "ensure." Both "insure" and "ensure" come from Anglo-French "enseurer," meaning to make safe or certain, built from "en-" and "seur," or "sure," which traces back to Latin "securus," literally "without care." For centuries the two spellings were used interchangeably, and the financial sense of "insure" developed as a specialised use. The suffix "-ness," from Old English, turns the adjective into a noun for the quality itself.

Synonyms: insurmountability, impossibility, difficulty, inaccessibility, unattainability

Antonyms: surmountability, achievability, possibility, attainability