unplayable

adjective

un·​play·​able ˌən-ˈplā-ə-bəl How to pronounce unplayable (audio)
: not capable of being played or suitable to be played : not playable
a golf course rendered unplayable by heavy rains
dealt an unplayable card
music so complex as to be almost unplayable
Service is my strong point at tennis. I am inaccurate, but vigorous, and occasionally send in a quite unplayable shot.P. G. Wodehouse
found the ball in an unplayable lie [=a position that does not allow a shot to be made]

Examples of unplayable in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web However, rain continued to fall throughout, and the field was determined unplayable by the middle of the third inning. Evan Webeck, The Mercury News, 7 Mar. 2024 Leao has tended to fluctuate between unplayable and bystander depending on the game, and Milan need more from their star player. Emmet Gates, Forbes, 16 Feb. 2024 That was Sinner on Sunday: waiting out Medvedev’s unplayable hot streak, then taking control. Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 28 Jan. 2024 Jones became unplayable, a shadow of the guy who’d won a national championship while playing for Nick Saban, at Alabama. Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2024 Season of the Deep (2023) – This was this past year and featured an exceptionally dull six man activity and a promising three man activity that was absolutely butchered by difficulty selection and exotic quest to become almost unplayable by the end of the season. Paul Tassi, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023 Google is issuing refunds, which will save dedicated Stadia players from potentially losing hundreds of dollars in unplayable games. Ron Amadeo, Ars Technica, 29 Sep. 2022 And the Patriots switched from natural grass to turf at Gillette Stadium in the middle of the 2006 season after the field became a muddy, unplayable mess (losing to the Jets was the final straw). Ben Volin, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Sep. 2023 The Heat would spend 82 games finding a certain rhythm to their games and lineups, only to alter them dramatically when Robinson proves unplayable later on. Morten Jensen, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'unplayable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1806, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unplayable was in 1806

Dictionary Entries Near unplayable

Cite this Entry

“Unplayable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unplayable. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!