Crossword clues for insoluble
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Insoluble \In*sol"u*ble\, a. [L. insolubilis indissoluble, that can not be loosed: cf. F. insoluble. See In- not, and Soluble, and cf. Insolvable.]
Not soluble; in capable or difficult of being dissolved, as by a liquid; as, chalk is insoluble in water.
Not to be solved or explained; insolvable; as, an insoluble doubt, question, or difficulty.
Strong. ``An insoluble wall.'' [Obs.]
--Holland
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
late 14c., "unable to be loosened," from Latin insolubilis "that cannot be loosened," from in- "not" (see in- (1)) + solubilis (see soluble). Figurative use, of problems, etc., is from late 14c.It was a tacit conviction of the learned during the Middle Ages that no such thing as an insoluble question existed. There might be matters that presented serious difficulties, but if you could lay them before the right man -- some Arab in Spain, for instance, omniscient by reason of studies into the details of which it was better not to inquire -- he would give you a conclusive answer. The real trouble was only to find your man. [Gertrude Bell, "The Desert and the Sown," 1907]
Wiktionary
a. 1 That cannot be dissolved. 2 That cannot be solved; unsolvable; insolvable. 3 That cannot be explained; mysterious or inexplicable. 4 That cannot be broken down; dispersed
WordNet
Usage examples of "insoluble".
The wet precipitate is very bulky, of a dark-brown colour and readily soluble in dilute acids, but insoluble in ammonia and dilute alkalies.
The more strictly chemical methods are rendered troublesome by the oxide being insoluble in acids, resembling in this respect the gangue with which it is associated.
After ignition, it is insoluble in acids, except sulphuric, but is rendered soluble by fusion with alkalies.
Slags are for the most part decomposed by boiling with aqua regia, but it will be found more convenient and accurate to first extract with acids and then to treat the residue as an insoluble silicate.
In most cases substances soluble in acids are first removed, and the insoluble residue dried, weighed, and then calcined or burned in a current of air.
The residue contains the lead as sulphate, together with the insoluble matter of the ore and globules of sulphur.
Immediately, instabilities arose among the simulated cores, insoluble disagreements throwing them into deadlock.
Suppose no mercury is found in the dialyzed fluid, owing to the fact that corrosive sublimate enters into insoluble compounds with albumin, fibrin, mucous membrane, gluten, tannic acid, etc.
The coloring agent is insoluble in water, and the dyebath is a solution of wood ash and rotten urine in which the woad has been fermented.
The sulpho-acids of the azo colours, of the basic dyes, and of indigo are usually insoluble in water, although there are great differences in their properties in this respect.
The nitrogen in fresh dung exists principally in the state of insoluble nitrogenized matters.
The salts of barium give no precipitate with sulphuretted hydrogen in either acid or alkaline solution, but with sulphuric acid they at once give a precipitate, which is insoluble in acetate of soda.
On weighing, it gives the combined weights of organic and insoluble matter.
In the latter twentieth century cosmologists had an insoluble contradiction to face.
It not only flattened the Kosmos to a one-dimensional, monological affair, it sealed out the possibility of deeper and wider developments that alone could defuse its own insoluble dilemmas.