insurmountable
adjective
insurmountable is spelled I-N-S-U-R-M-O-U-N-T-A-B-L-E: 14 letters and 5 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, insurmountable means “Incapable of being passed over, surmounted, or overcome; insuperable” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in insurmountable?
| Letters | 14: I-N-S-U-R-M-O-U-N-T-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 27,820th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is insurmountable?
Insurmountable appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 27,820th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce insurmountable?
- US
Insurmountable has 5 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-insurmountable.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of insurmountable
- more insurmountable comparative
- most insurmountable superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does insurmountable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Incapable of being passed over, surmounted, or overcome; insuperable
Getting everybody to agree proved to be an insurmountable difficulty.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Insurmountable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense incapable of being passed over:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | insurmontable, infranchissable, impassable |
| German | unüberwindlich, unüberwindbar |
| Portuguese | insuperável, inexorável |
| Spanish | insalvable, insuperable, infranqueable |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does insurmountable come from?
From in- + surmountable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).