unsayable

adjective

un·​say·​able ˌən-ˈsā-ə-bəl How to pronounce unsayable (audio)
: not sayable : not easily expressed or related
also : not allowed to be said

Examples of unsayable in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
All fair, but an uncomfortable couch and a passion for the art of the unsayable are not reasons enough to kill oneself. Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025 These days the words become real only for the speaker—the air whispers to me—the listener is stealing away, back to its dark habitat, where all is unsayable. Jorie Graham, The New York Review of Books, 31 July 2025 Hordes of us are out there hoping to say the unsayable. Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025 And the true heroes, consequently, are those who dare to say the unsayable. Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2024 This was a composer tasked with saying the unsayable against the unspeakable. Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024 American literature took a while to say the unsayable. S. C. Cornell, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2023 With remarkable speed, however, the unsayable has become close to conventional wisdom. Michael Barnett, Foreign Affairs, 14 Apr. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of unsayable was in 1870

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Cite this Entry

“Unsayable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unsayable. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.

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