unanswerable
Americanadjective
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not capable of being answered; not having a known or discoverable answer.
an unanswerable question.
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not open to dispute or rebuttal; irrefutable; conclusive.
an unanswerable proof.
adjective
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incapable of being refuted
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(of a question) not admitting of any answer
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unanswerable
First recorded in 1605–15; un- 1 + answerable
Explanation
If there is no possibly way to respond to a question, it's unanswerable. "What is the meaning of life?" is an unanswerable question. Some questions are answerable, like "Who was the first person to walk on the moon?" and "What is your name?" Others are too complex or unknowable to be answered, like the unanswerable question, "Who is the happiest person in the world?" Both answerable and unanswerable trace their roots to the Old English answarian, "make an answer in reply."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Instead, the team broke down their unanswerable question—will the breeding program work—into four smaller, more tractable assumptions:
From Slate ● Apr. 28, 2026
Together was a creation of the young, with their devastating and unanswerable insight: “You’re leaving—we’re coming.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025
To bring the most unserious of serious topics to life, BBC Sport recently asked about 250 of its staff across the UK to take on the unanswerable question.
From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2025
No wonder I am such a huge wrestling fan where Penn State won the league and tournament so I am not left scratching my head while trying to answer seemingly unanswerable questions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2025
The storyteller, usually an elder, would pose this unanswerable question at the end of the story in the presence of the children’s parents.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
