Unmanufacturable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing an object or product that cannot be produced by any manufacturing process due to design or material constraints
2. Characterizing something that is impossible to create through industrial or mechanical means because it defies current production capabilities
3. Referring to an item that cannot be fabricated or assembled using standard manufacturing techniques owing to technical or practical limitations

Etymology: "Unmanufacturable" is built from two parts that each have their own history. The prefix "un-" is the old Germanic negating element, present in English since Old English times and still productive for forming opposites. The base is "manufacturable," which describes something that can be made in a factory or by manufacturing processes. Put together, the word simply means something that cannot be produced by manufacture, whether because of its design, materials, scale, or cost. The base itself traces back to "manufacture," which entered English from French and ultimately from Latin "manufactura," meaning "made by hand," combining "manus" (hand) and "factura" (a making). The sense of hand-making survives in the word's older history, even though modern manufacturing is almost entirely mechanized. "Manufacturable" then adds the suffix "-able," meaning capable of being done, and "unmanufacturable" adds the negating prefix on top.

Synonyms: nonproducible, unproducible, impractical, unfeasible, impossible

Antonyms: manufacturable, producible, feasible, possible, practical