unaccountable

[uhn-uh-koun-tuh-buhl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR unaccountable ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

impossible to account for; unexplained; inexplicable: The boat has an unaccountable tendency to yaw.

exempt from being called to account; not answerable: As a subordinate, he is unaccountable for errors in policy.

RELATED WORDS

Origin of unaccountable

First recorded in 1635–45; un-¹ + accountable

Related formsun·ac·count·a·ble·ness, un·ac·count·a·bil·i·ty, nounun·ac·count·a·bly, adverb

Synonyms for unaccountable

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR unaccountable ON THESAURUS.COM

1. incomprehensible, inscrutable, mysterious, unintelligible. 2. unanswerable, irresponsible.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for unaccountable

Contemporary Examples of unaccountable

And the new channels tend to be underground, indirect, and unaccountable.
The Answer to the McCutcheon Decision Is More Big Money in Politics
Jonathan Rauch
April 3, 2014
And then cue the 501(c)(4) nonprofits, which are also unaccountable and almost totally opaque, as conduits for secret giving.
The Answer to the McCutcheon Decision Is More Big Money in Politics
Jonathan Rauch
April 3, 2014
Eleven unaccountable federal judges cannot make these monumental decisions in secret ex parte proceedings.
The Secret FISA Court Must Go
Jennifer Granick, Christopher Sprigman
July 24, 2013
Netanyahu and Lieberman believe they are unaccountable because they have never been called to account.
How Obama Can Get Tough With Bibi
Lara Friedman
December 5, 2012
In Iran, we see where the path of a violent and unaccountable ideology leads.
Full Text of Obama's Speech to the UN -- Update: Video Added
Justin Green
September 25, 2012

Historical Examples of unaccountable

The unaccountable change in Eudora's character perplexed and troubled her.
Philothea
Lydia Maria Child
It made a body feel creepy, it was so curious and unaccountable.
Tom Sawyer Abroad
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
This was Evadna in a new and unaccountable mood, it seemed to him.
Good Indian
B. M. Bower
That is all I can tell you of that unaccountable being, myself.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
He accepted it as he accepted all the unaccountable doings and manifestations of the gods.
White Fang
Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for unaccountable

unaccountable

adjective

allowing of no explanation; inexplicable

puzzling; extraordinaryan unaccountable fear of hamburgers

not accountable or answerable to

Derived Formsunaccountableness or unaccountability, noununaccountably, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for unaccountable

adj.

1640s, "inexplicable," from un- (1) "not" + accountable. Meaning "not liable to be called to account" is recorded from 1640s. Related: Unaccountably.