use of the word "impregnable"

[iereiy]

Hi, "impregnable" has been defined as "unable to be defeated or destroyed; unassailable."
Have I used the word correctly in my context?
"A leader who is emotionally impregnable when a husband laying his hand on his spouse will definitely fail in his role of governance."
What I mean is "a leader who is emotionally untouched when he witnessed a husband treating one's spouse abusively will never rule his country well." Or is there a more concise way of writing? Because I always find my sentence verbose. Thanks in advance

 

[Mrfatso]

Not A Teacher

It does not seem natural to me.
We might talk of a castle or fortress as impregnable, "Dover Castle was impregnable to French seige tactics" might be a phrase using that word.
For your sentence I think the word unmoved is better.
"A leader who is unmoved when a husband lays his hand on his spouse will definitely fail in his role of governace"

 

[Matthew Wai]

May I use 'apathetic'?
'A leader apathetic about a husband's laying his hand on his spouse will definitely fail in his role of governance.'

Not a teacher.

 

[Mrfatso]

May I use 'apathetic'?
'A leader apathetic about a husband's laying his hand on his spouse will definitely fail in his role of governance.'

Not a teacher.

Not A Teacher

Yes I think that would also be alright.

 

[SoothingDave]

How about just "A man who is untroubled by wife beating will not make a good leader."

 

[tedmc]

How about just "A man who is untroubled by wife beating will not make a good leader."

"Unconcerned " is another possibility.

 

[iereiy]

Thanks everyone for the contribution. :-D Well, is 'impregnable' only limited to 'wall, castle, fortress defense' that kind of context? Can it be used for emotion, like emotionally impregnable to?

 

[Rover_KE]

Click here to read many examples of the word used in a wide variety of contexts.

(Bookmark the Fraze.It site for future reference.)

 

[Matthew Wai]

http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/
http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/
http://books.google.com/
Not a teacher.

Can it be used for emotion, like emotionally impregnable to?

What makes you think that it applies to emotion?

 

[iereiy]

Correct me if I'm wrong. Can the following sentences:

1. His face bore the marks of much, not always peaceful meditation; the look of it not bland or benevolent so much as close impregnable and hard. (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/)
2. Michelle had been grounded in her resolve to be emotionally impregnable and she was heavily armed with a quick wit and a wicked sharp tongue. (http://books.google.com/)

justify my use of emotionally impregnable in the following 'a man who is emotionally impregnable by wife beating will not make a good leader.'?

How about just "A man who is untroubled by wife beating will not make a good leader."

 

[Tdol]

I don't think so- your sentence is different from #2 because you add by wife beating, which doesn't work for me.

 

[iereiy]

I'm confused. What exactly is the meaning of 'emotionally impregnable' in #2? I thought it's apathetic, unmoved, untroubled, unconcerned, unperturbed, not emotionally attached? Will it be correct if I change 'by wife beating' to 'emotionally impregnable to domestic violence'?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

The trouble stems from the meaning of being emotionally impregnable. A person can't be 'emotionally impregnable by wife beating', it just doesn't make sense. (At a pinch he can become emotionally impregnable as a result of wife beating.)

What you mean is that the person is impregnable to the emotions caused by wife beating or domestic violence, not to the beating itself.

In fact, post #1 was by far the best attempt at using 'emotionally impregnable', but as Mrfatso and others have pointed out, it isn't very natural.

 

[Tdol]

I'm confused. What exactly is the meaning of 'emotionally impregnable' in #2? I thought it's apathetic, unmoved, untroubled, unconcerned, unperturbed, not emotionally attached? Will it be correct if I change 'by wife beating' to 'emotionally impregnable to domestic violence'?

I wouldn't use it. The fact that someone has used it doesn't make it a particularly desirable phrase- there are far better ways of saying it and you keep generating stuff that doesn't work.

 

[tedmc]

apathetic, unmoved, untroubled, unconcerned, unperturbed

In my opinion, any of the above adjectives is better than 'emotionally impregnable'. OP seems to have a preference for 'big words'.

not a teacher

 

[Matthew Wai]

I advise the OP, as a learner like me, not to create his/her own usages but to follow the definitions in dictionaries.

Not a teacher.

 

[iereiy]

The thing is I don't like to be bound by dictionaries. To me, as long as you get the definition right, you are free to use the word whichever way you like and that is what language mean to me. And to Tdol, for a person like me who is not a native speaker, it is by generating stuff that doesn't work and the feedback from others that help me to understand and how I should construct my sentence. Wouldn't it be ridiculous for me to join this forum if I know how to generate stuff that does work?

 

[Tdol]

The point was not about generating stuff that doesn't work, but about keeping on doing it.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Wouldn't it be ridiculous for me to join this forum if I know how to generate stuff that does work?

I doubt that this forum encourages learners to generate their own stuff.

Not a teacher.

 

[emsr2d2]

We urge them to generate their own sentences and paragraphs. We don't encourage them to try to use words outside of their dictionary definitions. Generally, if we, as native speakers, use a word outside its general meaning, we will give examples.