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unutterable

[uhn-uht-er-uh-buh l]
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adjective
  1. not communicable by utterance; unspeakable; beyond expression: unutterable joy.
  2. not utterable; not pronounceable: an unutterable foreign word.
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Origin of unutterable

1580–90; un-1 + utterable
Related formsun·ut·ter·a·bly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

unutterablyineffably

Examples from the Web for unutterably

Historical Examples

  • I leaned against the mantel, relieved by his going, but unutterably lonely.

    The Bacillus of Beauty

    Harriet Stark

  • They were unutterably shy of religious expression, and to read was their only chance.

  • The man was so contemptible; so unutterably low and 257 vile and cowardly.

    Louisiana Lou

    William West Winter

  • These heights are incomparably, unutterably beyond vision and union.

    The Golden Fountain

    Lilian Staveley

  • At last Andre-Louis began to speak, his voice level and unutterably cold.

    Scaramouche

    Rafael Sabatini

British Dictionary definitions for unutterably

unutterable

adjective
  1. incapable of being expressed in words
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Derived Formsunutterableness, noununutterably, 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 unutterably

unutterable

adj.

1580s, from un- (1) "not" + utterable (see utter (v.)). As a noun, from 1788; unutterables as a euphemism for "trousers" is recorded by 1843.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper