unutterable
Americanadjective
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not communicable by utterance; unspeakable; beyond expression.
unutterable joy.
-
not utterable; not pronounceable.
an unutterable foreign word.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of unutterable
1580–90; un- 1 + utterable ( def. )
Explanation
Anything that's just too horrible to say out loud is unutterable. Waking in unutterable fear from a nightmare makes it hard to fall back to sleep again. Intense feelings tend to be unutterable, whether it's your profound sorrow at the death of your cat or your unspeakable urge to strangle your sister from time to time. This adjective is ideal for describing things that can't be uttered, or expressed in words, from a root meaning "out." During the Victorian era, it was thought by many to be vulgar to talk about pants or trousers, and some people used euphemisms instead — including calling them unutterables.
Vocabulary lists containing unutterable
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.
Unutterable splendor of light and sheen and shadow.
From Other Main-Travelled Roads by Garland, Hamlin
Ocean and earth, the solid frame of earth And ocean's liquid mass, in gladness lay Beneath him; far and wide the clouds were touched, And in their silent faces could he read Unutterable love.
From Studies in Medi?val Life and Literature by McLaughlin, Edward Tompkins
Before me wide the marshes lay— Started the hounds with sudden bay— Aghast the swerving charger slanting Snorted—then stood abrupt and panting— For curling there, in coilèd fold, The Unutterable Beast behold!
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 53, No. 328, February, 1843 by Various
Unutterable thoughts assembled within him in this manner all day long.
From Les Misérables by Hapgood, Isabel Florence
My subject knows all about this; he has gazed on the Unutterable, and he has never mentioned his soul-piercing experience to any creature.
From A Dream of the North Sea by Runciman, James
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.
