unanswerable

adjective

un·​an·​swer·​able

ˌən-ˈan(t)s-rə-bəl,

-ˈan(t)-sə- 

: not capable of being answered

also : irrefutable

unanswerability

ˌən-ˌan(t)s-rə-ˈbi-lə-tē

-ˌan(t)-sə- 

noun

unanswerably

ˌən-ˈan(t)s-rə-blē

-ˈan(t)-sə- 

adverb

Synonyms

• accomplished
• certain
• inarguable
• incontestable
• incontrovertible
• indisputable
• indubitable
• irrefragable
• irrefutable
• positive
• sure
• unarguable
• unchallengeable
• undeniable
• unquestionable

Examples of unanswerable in a Sentence

the unanswerable assertion that she didn't know much about art but she knew what she liked

Recent Examples on the Web

Fertility connects perhaps the most significant decision any individual might make with unanswerable questions about our collective fate, so a theory of fertility is necessarily a theory of everything—gender, money, politics, culture, evolution. —Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025

To be included, a question needs to be unanswerable by all existing models. —Tharin Pillay, TIME, 24 Dec. 2024

With many unanswerable whys in her baggage, Gallant landed in a stunned, post-Holocaust Europe to a pervasive air of meaninglessness. —Laurence Scott, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2025

From this time on, the central animating concerns of his practice were the unanswerable existential questions and their moral implications. —David A. Ross, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unanswerable

• answerable

Kids Definition

unanswerable

adjective

un·​an·​swer·​able ˌən-ˈan(t)s-(ə-)rə-bəl 

ˈən-

: not answerable

especially : irrefutable

the arguments were unanswerable