4 uses
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Definition
very apparent (so strong, it almost seems to take a material form that can be touched)
- To the untrue man, the whole universe is false—it is impalpable—it shrinks to nothing within his grasp.Chapter 11 — The Interior of a Heart (94% in)
- He was, in truth, a rare phenomenon; so perfect, in one point of view; so shallow, so delusive, so impalpable such an absolute nonentity, in every other.Introductory (36% in)
- It was a folly, with the materiality of this daily life pressing so intrusively upon me, to attempt to fling myself back into another age, or to insist on creating the semblance of a world out of airy matter, when, at every moment, the impalpable beauty of my soap-bubble was broken by the rude contact of some actual circumstance.Introductory (82% in)
- At first, as already told, she had flirted fancifully with her own image in a pool of water, beckoning the phantom forth, and—as it declined to venture—seeking a passage for herself into its sphere of impalpable earth and unattainable sky.Chapter 15 — Hester and Pearl (33% in)
There are no more uses of "palpable" in The Scarlet Letter.
Typical Usage
(best examples)