unutterably en · ADV
Etymology
Etymology tree English unutterable Middle English -ly English -ly English unutterably From unutterable + -ly.
Meanings
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In an unutterable manner; inexpressibly; so bad or otherwise extreme that one cannot talk about it.
The rapid reconquest of the capital, Kabul, by the Taliban after two decades of a staggeringly expensive, bloody effort to establish a secular government with functioning security forces in Afghanistan is, above all, unutterably tragic.
2021 August 15, “The Tragedy of Afghanistan”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:We both of us went on our knees, and, feeling unutterably sad, a whispered prayer went up from our lips as the poor fellow's soul flitted away to a happier and brighter world, and all was over.
1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 167:I turned away and left her to finish her journey in peace, feeling, but only for a moment or two, that I had been an unutterably mean hound.
1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Phantom Rickshaw”, in The Phantom 'Rickshaw and Other Tales, Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler and Co., page 12:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most unutterably | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more unutterably | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |