unutterable — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced; unpronounceable.

   Antonyms

   articulableenunciableexpressiblepronounceablesayableutterable

2. Incapable of being articulated or expressed; indescribable, inexpressible.

   Synonyms

   ineffableinutterableunspeakable

   Antonyms

   articulableexpressibleutterable

   Examples

   unutterable anguish

   [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.

   More examples (12)

   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: […]

   VVhat is to ſpeak? or vvherefore ſhould I ſpeak? / VVhat means theſe Tears, but Grief unutterable?

   Still in harmonious intercourſe they liv'd / The rural day, and talk'd the flovving heart, / Or ſigh'd and look'd unutterable things.

   [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.

   [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!

   [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.

   Young Juan wander'd by the glassy brooks / Thinking unutterable things; […]

   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!

   An unutterable nausea oppressed me; I was conscious of gasping; there seemed no breath in my body.

   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.

   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.

   Abacus, n. In architecture, the upper part of a column, upon which, in all good architecture, sits the thoughtful stork pondering unutterable things.

3. Not allowed to be spoken; taboo, unspeakable.

   Antonyms

   speakableutterable

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

4. Extremely bad or objectionable; unspeakable.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   These unutterable people upon the telephone have already ruined my morning's work, so that a little more can hardly matter.

Noun

1. Something which is unutterable (incapable of being physically spoken, incapable of being articulated or expressed, etc.).

Adjective

1. too sacred to be uttered

   Synonyms

   ineffableunnameableunspeakable

   Examples

   the ineffable name of the Deity

2. defying expression or description

   Synonyms

   indefinableindescribableineffableunspeakableuntellable

   Examples

   indefinable yearnings

   indescribable beauty

   More examples (4)

   ineffable ecstasy

   unspeakable happiness

   unutterable contempt

   a thing of untellable splendor

3. very difficult to pronounce correctly

   Synonyms

   unpronounceable

   Examples

   an unpronounceable foreign word

   unutterable consonant clusters