unutterable

adjective

un·​ut·​ter·​able ˌən-ˈə-tə-rə-bəl How to pronounce unutterable (audio)
: being beyond the powers of description : inexpressible
an unutterable tragedy
unutterably adverb

Examples of unutterable in a Sentence

unutterable joy that a baby can bring to a household the unutterable suffering brought on by the war
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Two high voices — LACO features soprano Amanda Forsythe and countertenor John Holiday — intertwine with the orchestra turning this hymn to the Virgin Mary’s suffering into unutterable sweetness and treating death as life’s engenderment. Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2024 In between loads of cartoonish ultraviolence and B-movie horror ephemera came some honestly unutterable lyrics, which Bill fought his faith to perform. Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 28 June 2022 To my mind, these experiences rub our faces in the unutterable weirdness of existence, which transcends all our knowledge and forms of expression. John Horgan, Scientific American, 25 June 2021 The score comes with a long theological preface and effusive descriptions of the unutterable in each gaze. Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 23 Dec. 2020 And where the two met, ideas that once seemed unutterable started, to many, to sound like the future. Anand Giridharadas, Time, 21 Nov. 2019 But Rosamund Young’s The Secret Life of Cows deserves its sudden reputation as a first-hand account of unutterable charm. Eve MacSweeney, Vogue, 15 June 2018 Our minds, formed and informed by their We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance dark, cold caves. Kevin Cullen, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Apr. 2018 But Mac, instead, ended the chapter with lens blurred, in magnificent midsentence, as if the artist's voice were suddenly taken away in an unutterable trail of tears. Mark Swed, latimes.com, 16 Mar. 2018

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1586, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unutterable was circa 1586

Dictionary Entries Near unutterable

Cite this Entry

“Unutterable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unutterable. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

unutterable

adjective
un·​ut·​ter·​able ˌən-ˈət-ə-rə-bəl How to pronounce unutterable (audio)
ˈən-
1
: not capable of being pronounced
2
: not capable of being put into words : inexpressible
unutterable sorrow
unutterably adverb

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