insurmountability

English

Etymology

in- +‎ surmount +‎ -ability

Noun

insurmountability (uncountable)

1. The state or quality of being insurmountable.
   • 1877, John Joseph Henry, Account of Arnold's Campaign Against Quebec‎^[1], J. Munsell, page 171:

     But when we reflect that across the road at the centre of the arc of each curve there was a barricade, and cannon placed to rake the' intervals between the different barricades, the difficulties of the ascent, which is very steep, would be increased even to insurmountability.

   • 1885, George Washington Cable, Richard Hooker WIlmer, Dr. Sevier‎^[2], J. R. Osgood and Company, page 195:

     He dried his eyes. His aunt saw the insurmountability of the difficulty, and they drowned feeling in an affectionate glass of green-orangeade.

   • 1910, Emma Goldman, Mother Earth (1906-1917)‎^[3], page 305:

     The tragedy of a genius towering above its contemporaries does not end with death. The latter merely helps to accentuate more forcibly the insurmountability of inherent contrasts.

References

• “insurmountability”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.