Definition of INEFFABLE

Other Words from ineffable

ineffability \ (ˌ)i-ˌne-fə-ˈbi-lə-tē

\ noun

ineffableness \ (ˌ)i-ˈne-fə-bəl-nəs

\ noun

ineffably \ (ˌ)i-ˈne-fə-blē

\ adverb

Breaking Down the Roots of Ineffable

Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness, wrote Frederick Douglass in his autobiography. Reading Douglass's words, it's easy to see that ineffable means "indescribable" or "unspeakable." And when we break down the word to its Latin roots, it's easy to see how those meanings came about. "Ineffable" comes from "ineffabilis," which joins the prefix in-, meaning "not," with the adjective effabilis, meaning "capable of being expressed." "Effabilis" comes from "effari" ("to speak out"), which in turn comes from ex- and fari ("to speak").

Examples of ineffable in a Sentence

an ineffable beauty descends upon the canyon as the sun begins to set

Recent Examples on the Web

No, their instrument has to resound with some other, ineffable qualities. — Peter Marks, Washington Post, "An aura of authority," 24 June 2019 But the researchers also found something else in the data: Many of the countries in the temperate Goldilocks zone, which already tended to be richer, had even seemed to gain some slight ineffable economic benefit from the warming. — Alejandra Borunda, National Geographic, "Inequality is decreasing between countries—but climate change is slowing progress," 22 Apr. 2019 One of the themes that recurs in her poetry is longing — not a longing that is negative or envious, just a reach toward something ineffable in the human heart. — courant.com, "Social justice, longing reflected in the spare poems of Davyne Verstandig," 20 June 2019 And how to cook this complex and ineffable nostalgia into dinner? — Tamar Adler, Vogue, "Is Seaweed the Perfect Food?," 15 Feb. 2019 Clearly, something ineffable has been lost in the shopping experience—and not only for me—judging from the revival and broadened scope of in-store dining. — Alex Witchel, Town & Country, "The Best Department Stores Are All Opening Restaurants," 25 Feb. 2019 But if a building has the ineffable rightness of form of a great piece of sculpture, an addition is normally fatal. ... — Michael J. Lewis, WSJ, "An Expansion of Subtle Sensibility," 5 Feb. 2019 By stirring us so powerfully, birds bring us up against the ineffable in a telling, pathos-laden way. — Ben Downing, WSJ, "‘As Kingfishers Catch Fire’ Review: Flights of Fancy," 16 Nov. 2018 That ineffable quality that drew him to her in the first place? — Kayleigh Roberts, Marie Claire, "Sophie Turner Reacts Adorably to Joe Jonas Secretly Instagramming Her," 25 Nov. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ineffable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.