unutterable en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- [ˌʌnˈʌɾɚ.ɪ̈bl̩] (General-American)
- /(ˌ)ʌnˈʌtɹəbl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /(ˌ)ʌnˈʌt(ə)ɹəbl̩/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˌʌnˈʌtɚəb(ə)l/ (General-American)
Etymology
From un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + utterable.
Meanings
- Not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced; unpronounceable.
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Incapable of being articulated or expressed; indescribable, inexpressible.
[I]n this manner, Anne walking by her side, and Charles attending to his wife, they set forward, treading back with feelings unutterable, the ground, which so lately, so very lately, and so light of heart, they had passed along.
1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter XII, in Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume III, London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC, page 264:As she turned her face upon Madame de Sonnaz with unutterable scorn and indignation on it, the elder woman did that homage to her beauty which a rival renders so reluctantly, but which is truer testimony to its power than all a lover's praise.
1880, Ouida [pseudonym; Maria Louise Ramé], chapter XVII, in Moths […], volume II, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 242:[M]y heart dilated with unutterable happineſs, when, to my amazement, the houſe was burſting out in a blaze of fire, and every apperture was red with conflagration!
1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “Offences are Easily Pardoned where There is Love at Bottom”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume II, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, pages 57–58:Abacus, n. In architecture, the upper part of a column, upon which, in all good architecture, sits the thoughtful stork pondering unutterable things.
1967, Ambrose Bierce, “Abacus”, in Ernest Jerome Hopkins, editor, The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 1:How often have I seen him, intent upon a match at marbles or pegtop, looking on with a face of unutterable interest, and hardly breathing at the critical times!
1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Somebody Turns Up”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 179:Young Juan wander'd by the glassy brooks / Thinking unutterable things; […]
1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto I, stanza XC, page 48:[H]e was careſſed by all the people in the neighbourhood; who, while they admired his accompliſhments, could not help pitying his infatuated mother, for being deprived of that unutterable delight which any other parent would have enjoyed in the contemplation of ſuch an amiable ſon.
1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “Peregrine is Summoned to Attend His Uncle; is More and More Hated by His Own Mother; Appeals to His Father, whose Condecension is Defeated by the Dominion of His Wife”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 59, column 1:Still in harmonious intercourſe they liv'd / The rural day, and talk'd the flovving heart, / Or ſigh'd and look'd unutterable things.
a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 91, lines 1186–1188:An unutterable nausea oppressed me; I was conscious of gasping; there seemed no breath in my body.
1850, Herman Melville, “The Last of the Jacket”, in White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers; London: Richard Bentley, published 1855, →OCLC, page 456:unutterable anguish
VVhat is to ſpeak? or vvherefore ſhould I ſpeak? / VVhat means theſe Tears, but Grief unutterable?
1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act IV, page 47:Prevenient Grace deſcending had remov'd / The ſtonie from thir hearts, and made new fleſh / Regenerat grow inſtead, that ſighs now breath'd / Unutterable, which the Spirit of prayer / Inſpir'd, and wing'd for Heav'n with ſpeedier flight / Then loudeſt Oratorie: […]
1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 3–8:[H]e is Sir / The moſt vnutterable covvard, that ere nature / Bleſt vvith hard ſhoulders, vvhich vvere only giuen him, / To the ruine of baſtinados.
c. 1607–1621 (date written), [Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher; Philip Massinger], The Tragedy of Thierry King of France, and His Brother Theodoret. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1621, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, signature E, recto:Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.
1964 December 11, Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Lecture by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, Norway, December 11, 1964, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Row, published 1965, →OCLC, page 1:
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Not allowed to be spoken; taboo, unspeakable.
Hovv oft the humble Scholar came, / And to your Songs he rais'd his Ears / To learn the Unutterable Name, / To view the Eternal Baſe that bears / The Nevv Creations Frame.
1706, I[saac] Watts, “To the Memory of the Reverend Mr. Tho[mas] Gouge, who Died January 8. 1⁶⁹⁹⁄₇₀₀”, in Horæ Lyricæ. Poems, Chiefly of the Lyric Kind. […], London: […] S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence […], →OCLC, book II (Odes, Elegies and Epistles, &c. Sacred to Vertue, Loyalty and Friendship), stanza VI, page 253:
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(figuratively) Extremely bad or objectionable; unspeakable.
These unutterable people upon the telephone have already ruined my morning's work, so that a little more can hardly matter.
1929 January, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Disintegration Machine”, in The Professor Challenger Stories […], London: John Murray, […], published [1952], →OCLC, page 531:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more unutterable | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most unutterable | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Antonyms
solid · expressible · super · commendable · wondrous · nice · sweet · pronounceable · splendid · lovely · wonderful · expressible · satisfying · radical · pronounceable · utterable · speakable · goated · dandy as candy · marvelous · as fine as Dick's hatband · delightful · excellent · beatific · agreeable · positive · describable · speakable · outstanding · divine · superb · incredible · magnificent · exceptional · heavenlike · wicked · heavenly · utterable · good as wheat in the bin · terrific · enunciable · decent · articulable · fabulous · gratifying · not bad · pleasant · goloptious · verbalizable · cool · tubular · acceptable · all right · phenomenal · stellar · utterable · perfect · bona · fine · amazing · bene · sayable · bodacious · enjoyable · articulable · right as rain · rad · expressible · stupendous · sweet as a nut · well · brilliant · celestial · great · awesome · enunciable · neat · sayable · blissful · articulable · pleasing · utterable · fantastic
Deriveds
Relateds
unuttered · utterless · inutterable · inutterably
Synonyms
undefinable · hideous · odious · inutterable · crap · chronic · deityforsaken · inexpressible · disagreeable · miserable · foul · unspecifiable · horrendous · horrid · ordinary · terrible · fourth-rate · awful · indefinable · nameless · wack · inutterable · crappy · dreadful · inenarrable · indicible · inferior · rubbish · peak · godawful · termless · crapalicious · lousy · fifth-rate · inadequate · bad · untold · sloppy · abysmal · rotten · shitawful · corny · horrific · ineffable · atrocious · ineffable · incompetent · coarse · horrible · hellish · unspeakable · naff · utterless · inelegant · dire · shitty · lackluster · dogshit · hopeless · sixth-rate · unfavorable · loathsome · subpar · undescribable · indescribable · dismal · pathetic · unnameable · intolerable · unsayable · unutterable · unspeakable · crummy · piss-poor · negative
Translations (39)
ru невырази́мо (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · la inēloquāx (not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced — see also unpronounceable) · de unaussprechbar (not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced — see also unpronounceable) · it indicibile (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · bg непроизносим (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · la ineffābilis (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · es indecible (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · it nefando (extremely bad or objectionable — see also unspeakable) · it infando (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · pt indizível (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · sh неизрѐцив (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · la īnfandus (extremely bad or objectionable — see also unspeakable) · it impronunciabile (not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced — see also unpronounceable) · gl nefando (extremely bad or objectionable — see also unspeakable) · it improferibile (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · grc ἄλογος (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · gl inefábel (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · ru неопису́емый (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · de unaussprechlich (not allowed to be spoken — see also taboo, unspeakable) · la inēloquibilis (not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced — see also unpronounceable) · de unaussprechlich (extremely bad or objectionable — see also unspeakable) · sh neizrèciv (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · ru несказа́нно (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · grc ἀνεκλάλητος (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · eo neeldirebla (not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced — see also unpronounceable) · ka გამოუთქმელი (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · bn অকথ্য (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · gv neufocklagh (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · it impronunciabile (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · hu kimondhatatlan (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · de unaussprechlich (not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced — see also unpronounceable) · it inenarrabile (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · grc ἄρρητος (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · la īnfandus (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · la ineffābilis (not allowed to be spoken — see also taboo, unspeakable) · gv erskyn insh (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · gv do-insh (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible) · gl impronunciábel (not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced — see also unpronounceable) · de unaussprechlich (incapable of being articulated or expressed — see also indescribable, inexpressible)