impervious
/ɪmˈpəːvɪəs
/adjective
1Not allowing fluid to pass through: an impervious layer of basaltic clay...
- The coatings are weldable and impervious to automotive and hydraulic fluids.
- This impervious drape allows a 3-sq inch opening at the femoral site and covers the patient from head to toe.
- In other words, it's not impervious to moisture but it will get you through an afternoon cloudburst.
Synonyms
impermeable, impenetrable, impregnable, waterproof, watertight, water-resistant, water-repellent;
sealed, hermetically sealed
rare imperviable
2 (impervious to) Unable to be affected by: he worked, apparently impervious to the heat...
- The administration seems indifferent to data, impervious to competing viewpoints and ideas.
- Our council seem impervious to criticism and oblivious to basic common sense.
- Young and oddly confident, they are blind to their deficiencies and impervious to the daunting odds stacked against them.
Synonyms
unaffected by, untouched by, immune to, invulnerable to, insusceptible to, not susceptible to, proof against, unreceptive to, closed to, resistant to, indifferent to, heedless of, unresponsive to, oblivious to, unmoved by, deaf to
Derivatives
imperviously
- From years of denial and austere behavioural therapy groups - whether in school or privately with a psychiatrist - there are some who are imperviously self-conscious and rely heavily on medication to mask whatever symptoms may surface.
- The two Virginians were shrewd men with an imperviously close bond and an impressive degree of patience and self-control.
- She is strangely dissociated from her husband, whose disembodied voice, imperviously reciting poetry, ‘struck close upon her ears.’
imperviousness
- The imperviousness to facts and analysis is also there.
- I fear his intense, mind-beating politeness, his titanium imperviousness to human weakness, his barking power-laugh.
- Their knife, which originated in Japan, is known for its smooth-rocking motion and imperviousness to acids, juices, oils and salts - unlike its steel sister.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin impervius (from in- 'not' + pervius 'pervious') + -ous.