imperceptible

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English imperceptible, from Middle French imperceptible and its etymon Medieval Latin imperceptibilis.^[1] By surface analysis, im- +‎ perceptible.

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)

Adjective

imperceptible (comparative more imperceptible, superlative most imperceptible)

Not perceptible, not detectable, too small in magnitude to be observed.
Synonyms: imperceivable, undistinguishable, unperceivable

Antonyms: detectable, perceptible

We all missed the imperceptible shake of his head as he tried to warn us without being seen.
- 1653, Henry More, “What Is Meant by Demonstrating There Is a God, and that the Mind of Man, unlesse He Do Violence to His Faculties, Will Fully Assent or Dissent from That Which Notwithstanding May Have a Bare Possibility of Being Otherwise”, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC, book I, page 3:
  For this ſtone may have naturally grown into this very ſhape, and the ſeeming aſhes may be no aſhes, that is no remainders of any ſewell burnt there, but ſome unexplicable and imperceptible Motions of the Aire, or other particles of this fluid Matter that is active every where, have wrought ſome parts of the Matter into the form and nature of aſhes, and have fridg’d and plaid about ſo, that they have alſo figured thoſe intelligible Characters in the ſame.
- 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 142:
  A narrow, almost imperceptible path led them through the thickest of the wood. Two or three times they had to creep under boughs which, but for the ease with which they gave way, would seem never to have admitted a passage before.
- 1961 July, J. Geoffrey Todd, “Impressions of railroading in the United States: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 425:
  To my unpractised eye, the undulations in the track were quite imperceptible, but the engineer's hand on the throttle was never still.
- 1986, Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 75:
  Very small benefits may be imperceptible. And it is plausible to claim that an 'imperceptible benefit' is not a benefit.
Beyond the purview of man; too great and all-encompassing to be perceived.
Synonym: cosmic

Antonym: perceptible

Derived terms

Translations

not perceptible

Belarusian: непрыкме́тны (njeprykmjétny)
Bulgarian: неусетен (bg) (neuseten)
Catalan: imperceptible (ca)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 不可察覺嘅 / 不可察觉嘅 (bat¹ ho² caat³ gok³ ge³)
Dutch: onwaarneembaar (nl), onzichtbaar (nl), onmerkbaar (nl)
Finnish: vaikea aistia, huomaamaton (fi)
French: imperceptible (fr), inapercevable (fr)
German: unmerklich (de)
Greek: ανεπαίσθητος (el) (anepaísthitos)
Manx: neuvaghtal
Ottoman Turkish: بللیسز (bellisiz)
Polish: niewyczuwalny
Portuguese: impercetível (Portugal), imperceptível (pt) (Brazil)
Russian: неощути́мый (ru) (neoščutímyj), незаме́тный (ru) (nezamétnyj)
Spanish: imperceptible (es)
Ukrainian: непримі́тний (neprymítnyj)

Noun

imperceptible (plural imperceptibles)

Something that is imperceptible.
- 1659, Cyrano [de] Bergerac, translated by Tho[mas] S^t Serf, Σεληναρχια. Or, The Government of the World in the Moon: A Comical History. […], London: […] J[ames] Cottrel, and are to be sold by Hum[phrey] Robinson […], →OCLC, signature K2, verso:
  The worm that cauſeth it, is it any thing elſe but one of thoſe little Creatures, that hath deprived it ſelf from all ſocitety, to eſtabliſh it ſelf a Gyant in its own Countrey? If you ask me, VVhy they are bigger then other imperceptibles? I muſt ask you, VVhy Elephants are bigger then we?
- 1705, [Daniel Defoe], The Consolidator: or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon. […], London: […] Benj[amin] Bragg […], →OCLC, page 91:
  I come next to ſome other ſtrange Acquirements obtained by the helps of theſe Glaſſes; and particularly for the diſcerning the Imperceptibles of Nature; ſuch as, the Soul, Thought, Honeſty, Religion, Virginity, and an Hundred other nice things, too ſmall for humane Diſcerning.
- 1867 August 3, “Essays on Religion and Literature. By Various Writers. Edited by Archbishop Manning. Second Series. (Longmans & Co.)”, in The Athenæum: Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts, number 2075, London: […] James Holmes, […] John Francis. […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 139, column 1:
  The Church assures the faithful that in the Eucharist one imperceptible is changed into another: the mind illumined by faith recognizes the change and says, Here is a miracle, here is something out of the usual course of nature.
- 2016, Noah Hawley, “Gil Baruch: June 5, 1967–August 26, 2015”, in Before the Fall, London: Hodder, published 2017, →ISBN, page 250:
  It was a lazy Sunday. What made it meaningful were not the facts or details, but the imperceptibles. Inner life. The smell of the beach grass and the feel of sand on a bathroom floor when changing out of a swimsuit. The heat of American summer.