ineffable en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Italic *eks Latin ex Latin ex- Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂ti Proto-Italic *fāōr Latin for Latin effor Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom Proto-Italic *-ðlom Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin effābilis Latin ineffābilislbor. Middle French ineffablebor. English ineffable Borrowed from Middle French ineffable, a learned borrowing from Latin ineffābilis, from in- (“not”) + effābilis (“utterable”).
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Beyond expression in words; unspeakable.
They, and many others, are one with the trains that ran them, part of that ineffable atmosphere of Scotland's railways.
1958 July 14, J. P. Wilson, “Scottish Soliloquy”, in Railway Magazine, page 495:As Alan Watts (1961) wrote, it involves trying to speak the unspeakable, scrute the inscrutable and eff the ineffable.
2012, Gay Watson, Stephen Batchelor, Guy Claxton, The Psychology of Awakening: Buddhism, science, and our day-to-day lives:Stroeve was trying to express a feeling which he had never known before, and he did not know how to put it into common terms. He was like the mystic seeking to describe the ineffable.
1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter 39, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:Devotion bids aspire to nobler things, to boundless love, and joys ineffable: and such her expectation from kind Heav'n.
1750, “Theodora”, Thomas Morell (lyrics), George Frideric Handel (music):God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of his own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
1990, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Good Omens:
- (not-comparable) Forbidden to be uttered; taboo.
Antonyms
Coordinates
dense · unknowable · unexplainable · incalculable · undiscoverable · retruse · inenubilable · inexplicable · inscrutable · inscrutable · ineffable · Greek · incomprehensible · incognizable · insolvable · impenetrable · thick · Chinese · tenebrose · obscure · unintelligible · innumerous · inapprehensible · unfathomable · mysterious · undecipherable · insensible · fathomless · ununderstandable · innumerable · abstruse · unnumerable · nonunderstandable · incomprehensible · insoluble · ungraspable · unfathomable · enigmatic · bottomless
Relateds
ineffableness · effable · effability · ineffably · ineffability
Synonyms
undescribable · nameless · inenarrable · unnameable · termless · undefinable · indicible · indescribable · unspecifiable · unutterable · ineffable · unspeakable · inexpressible · taboo · unutterable · untold · indefinable · unspeakable · indescribable · inutterable · inexpressible · unspeakable
Translations (50)
de unaussprechlich (beyond expression) · nl onbespreekbaar (forbidden to be uttered) · ru невырази́мый (beyond expression) · ru несказа́нный (beyond expression) · fr ineffable (beyond expression) · nl onuitsprekelijk (beyond expression) · ka გამოუთქმელი (beyond expression) · fr innommable (beyond expression) · ro inefabil (beyond expression) · el άφατος (beyond expression) · tr ağza alınmaz (forbidden to be uttered) · grc ἄφατος (beyond expression) · fr tabou (forbidden to be uttered) · ka აღუწერელი (beyond expression) · pl nieopisany (beyond expression) · cy anhraethol (beyond expression) · uk невимо́вний (beyond expression) · nl geheiligd (forbidden to be uttered) · es inefable (beyond expression) · pl niewymawialny (forbidden to be uttered) · te చెప్పలేని (beyond expression) · bg неизразим (beyond expression) · be невыка́зны (beyond expression) · nl onnoembaar (beyond expression) · fi sanomaton (beyond expression) · te చెప్పరాని (forbidden to be uttered) · no usigelig (beyond expression) · no unevnelig (forbidden to be uttered) · nl onzeggelijk (beyond expression) · cs nevýslovný (beyond expression) · la ineffabilis (beyond expression) · pt indescritível (beyond expression) · sv outsäglig (beyond expression) · el ανείπωτος (beyond expression) · pt inefável (beyond expression) · gv neufocklagh (beyond expression) · ka უტყვი (beyond expression) · sl neizrekljiv (beyond expression) · pl tabu (forbidden to be uttered) · no uutsigelig (beyond expression) · be невымо́ўны (beyond expression) · sv onämnbar (forbidden to be uttered) · tr anlatılmaz (beyond expression) · fi sanoinkuvaamaton (beyond expression) · nl onnoembaar (forbidden to be uttered) · nl taboe (forbidden to be uttered) · sv obeskrivlig (beyond expression) · fr inexprimable (forbidden to be uttered) · fr sacré (forbidden to be uttered) · ru неопису́емый (beyond expression)