What does unfulfillable mean?
Unfulfillable is an adjective for a promise, demand, requirement, or condition that cannot be fulfilled. It differs from ordinary failure: an unfulfilled promise may once have been possible but was not kept, whereas an unfulfillable promise was impossible to meet from the outset. The word is especially useful in legal, commercial, and public-policy contexts, where it identifies a demand that cannot be satisfied under available conditions. It can also carry an implication of futility or unfairness, as when a request is described as unfulfillable. Because it focuses on feasibility rather than the fact of nonperformance, unfulfillable should not be used as a substitute for unfulfilled. In ordinary conversation, a plainer phrase such as “impossible to meet” or “impossible to satisfy” may sound more natural, but unfulfillable provides a compact and formally precise label. It is chiefly used for commitments, obligations, expectations, and conditions, where the distinction between being unmet and being impossible to meet matters.
adjectiveUnable to be fulfilled; impossible to meet, satisfy, or carry out.
- Impossible or unable to be fulfilled, met, satisfied, or carried out.
"The committee concluded that the committee's request for immediate action was unfulfillable."
"The company informed investors that the original revenue target was unfulfillable."
"Her request for reimbursement was legally unfulfillable because it fell outside the policy's coverage."
An unfulfillable promise is not merely broken—it was impossible from the start.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does unfulfillable come from?
Unfulfillable is a transparent English formation combining the negative prefix un- with fulfill and the suffix -able, meaning capable of being fulfilled. Fulfill descends from Old English fulfyllan, “to fill fully,” and developed its modern sense of meeting a promise or obligation. The spelling fulfill is standard in American English, while fulfil is the usual British variant.
Related word forms
How unfulfillable is actually used
This is a formal and precise term, especially common in legal, commercial, and public-policy contexts. It typically describes a promise, demand, requirement, condition, or expectation that cannot be met. It focuses on feasibility rather than failure to perform.
Easily confused with unfulfillable
An unfulfilled promise could have been fulfilled but was not, whereas an unfulfillable promise was impossible to fulfill in the first place.