ineffable

adjective in·ef·fa·ble \ (ˌ)i-ˈne-fə-bəl \

|Updated on: 9 Jun 2018

Examples: ineffable in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Breaking Down The Roots of ineffable

Definition of ineffable

1 a : incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable

ineffable joy

b : unspeakable

ineffable disgust

2 : not to be uttered : taboo

the ineffable name of Jehovah

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ineffability

play \(ˌ)i-ˌne-fə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

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ineffableness

play \(ˌ)i-ˈne-fə-bəl-nəs\ noun

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ineffably

play \(ˌ)i-ˈne-fə-blē\ adverb

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Examples of ineffable in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of ineffable from the Web

If so, the variations have been endless, the themes ineffable.

— mark rozzo, Vanities, "Ed Ruscha Still Has Plenty More to Say About America," 30 May 2018
Some perceive this as undermining those ineffable elements that make wine different from, say, toothpaste.

— bruce schoenfeld, WIRED, "Your Next Glass of Wine Might Be a Fake—and You'll Love It," 30 May 2018
To illustrate Dundy’s story, Wolfe was photographed by Irving Penn, who captured the writer’s ineffable style with his lepidopterist’s eye.

— hamish bowles, Vogue, "Tom Wolfe: Remembering the Iconic Style of “The Man in the White Suit”," 15 May 2018
The actual taste was thoroughly barnyardy but approachable, balancing that ineffable chicken coopiness with a more familiar nutty quality.

— molly fitzpatrick, Bon Appetit, "The Hunt for the Stinkiest Cheese, Or, How I Tested the Bonds of Friendship," 26 Apr. 2018
Yet, the three duets (for André/Wei Wang, Sarah Van Patten/Luke Ingram, Gabriela Gonzalez/Ulrik Birkkjaer) miss a distinctive tone, even from Van Patten, the company’s mistress of the ineffable.

— allan ulrich, San Francisco Chronicle, "Almost boundless creativity as SF Ballet’s new-works festival opens," 22 Apr. 2018
There is a sadness, ineffable but undeniable, that will always hang over the Marathon until everybody who was alive when the bombings happened is dead.

— kevin cullen, BostonGlobe.com, "Five years later, we feel the grief like a sixth sense," 14 Apr. 2018
Father Couturier’s belief in art as an expression of the ineffable was the great epiphany to the de Menils.

— meryle secrest, WSJ, "‘Double Vision’ Review: American Medicis," 5 Apr. 2018
What will certainly translate are the bubbly personalities and ineffable pop songwriting skills that the sisters brought to their tour opener.

— robert ham, Billboard, "Haim Brings Charm and Enthusiasm to Sister Sister Sister Tour Opener in Portland," 4 Apr. 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.

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").

Origin and Etymology of ineffable

Middle English, from Latin ineffabilis, from in- + effabilis capable of being expressed, from effari to speak out, from ex- + fari to speak — more at ban

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First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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