ask the impossible

English

Verb

ask the impossible (third-person singular simple present asks the impossible, present participle asking the impossible, simple past and past participle asked the impossible)

1. To request or expect something that is too difficult.
   • 1975, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Drug Abuse Office and Treatment Act Amendments of 1975, page 199:

     We ask the impossible of our law enforcement agencies, we ask the impossible of our health and rehabilitative agencies, and we confuse the public even further.

   • 2019, Miriam Focaccia, Pietro Blaserna and the Birth of the Institute of Physics in Rome, page 114:

     To ask too much now would be to ask the impossible.

   • 2022, Inez Haynes Gillmore, The Story of the Woman's Party:

     What I ask is, will you use your influence within your Party? I do not ask the impossible, though I might from you, for you have done the impossible.

Related terms

• do the impossible

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: pyytää mahdottomia
• French: demander l’impossible
• Polish: żądać niemożliwego impf

See also

• ask for the moon

Further reading

• “the impossible”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “the impossible” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “the impossible” (US) / “the impossible” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.