as in ineffable
beyond the power to describe
the vastness of the universe is incommunicable
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Recent Examples of incommunicable
Piranesi is a mystery, a mystery of the mind, a way for Clarke to communicate the incommunicable.
—
Jason Kehe, Wired, 21 Sep. 2020
And nothing is more isolating, more incommunicable, than the grief of a parent who has been unable to save their child’s life.
—Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2022
In a way, Tiffany’s rendering of fandom as specific and incommunicable risks undermining her premise, which has to do with the massed power of people online.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 28 June 2022
Abstract artists, including Alberto Burri, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Jack Whitten and Mark Bradford, all found unique ways to use such materials to conjure the weight of incommunicable things.
—Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2021
After more than a decade away, the author is back with Piranesi, a way to communicate the incommunicable.
—Jason Kehe, Wired, 21 Sep. 2020
But the works test, in the depths of the incommunicable, the degree of anyone’s courage to envisage the bad in life, the worse, and the almost inconceivably abysmal.
—Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2020
In one panel, Mary, at the foot of the cross, makes a recognizable gesture — suggesting grief or astonishment so great, so fundamentally incommunicable, that one covers one’s mouth — similar to that made by Matisse’s central bather.
—Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2020
What surprised me was the poetic potential of scurvy, with its awfulness and that terrible sense of isolation, when the possibility of ecstatic delights was inconceivable and incommunicable.
—National Geographic, 15 Jan. 2017
Jason Kehe, Wired, 21 Sep. 2020
And nothing is more isolating, more incommunicable, than the grief of a parent who has been unable to save their child’s life.
—Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2022
In a way, Tiffany’s rendering of fandom as specific and incommunicable risks undermining her premise, which has to do with the massed power of people online.
—Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 28 June 2022
Abstract artists, including Alberto Burri, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Jack Whitten and Mark Bradford, all found unique ways to use such materials to conjure the weight of incommunicable things.
—Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2021
After more than a decade away, the author is back with Piranesi, a way to communicate the incommunicable.
—Jason Kehe, Wired, 21 Sep. 2020
But the works test, in the depths of the incommunicable, the degree of anyone’s courage to envisage the bad in life, the worse, and the almost inconceivably abysmal.
—Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2020
In one panel, Mary, at the foot of the cross, makes a recognizable gesture — suggesting grief or astonishment so great, so fundamentally incommunicable, that one covers one’s mouth — similar to that made by Matisse’s central bather.
—Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2020
What surprised me was the poetic potential of scurvy, with its awfulness and that terrible sense of isolation, when the possibility of ecstatic delights was inconceivable and incommunicable.
—National Geographic, 15 Jan. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incommunicable
Adjective
-
In fact, there’s something ineffable about the whole thing, something that can’t be explained with a formula.—
Ann Abel,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
-
Something of the experience remains afterward but the subtlety and beauty of the actual experience are ineffable.—
Caleb Harris,
Austin American Statesman,
17 July 2025
Adjective
-
Some incredible people were with us at the beginning, but life happens.—
Jon-Michael Banks,
Kansas City Star,
30 July 2025
-
Letscher’s more-than-endearing script runs the entire gamut of emotions without ever feeling manipulative or treacly, and pulls it all off in less than 90 minutes – an incredible feat.—
Duante Beddingfield,
Freep.com,
30 July 2025
Adjective
-
Historians are struggling to recover their inexpressible secrets.—
Erin Maglaque,
The New York Review of Books,
15 Nov. 2024
-
Historians are struggling to recover their inexpressible secrets.—
Erin Maglaque,
The New York Review of Books,
15 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
Winant crystallizes this idea of crossing a indescribable threshold through her discussion and analysis of masochism, an intrinsic component of athletic practice that intertwines physical pleasure with pain.—
Jessica Simmons-Reid,
Artforum,
1 June 2025
-
Winning back-to-back championships is indescribable, Bennett said as his team celebrated on the ice around him Tuesday night.—
Pierre LeBrun,
New York Times,
18 June 2025
Adjective
-
One life lost is one too many — eight lives lost is unspeakable.—
Robin Joy Maxson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 July 2025
-
Afrikaners have faced unspeakable horrors and are no less deserving of refugee resettlement than the hundreds of thousands of others who were allowed into the United States during the past administration.—
Jordan King,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 June 2025
Adjective
-
This East Coast city earns high marks year after year for its various dining options, museums, and the indefinable, electric energy of the city that never sleeps.—
Elizabeth Cantrell,
Travel + Leisure,
8 July 2025
-
Her work often explores indefinable experiences and emotions, intimacy, connection, and the body’s relationship to nature.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Two high voices — LACO features soprano Amanda Forsythe and countertenor John Holiday — intertwine with the orchestra turning this hymn to the Virgin Mary’s suffering into unutterable sweetness and treating death as life’s engenderment.—
Jessica Gelt,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Mar. 2024
-
In between loads of cartoonish ultraviolence and B-movie horror ephemera came some honestly unutterable lyrics, which Bill fought his faith to perform.—
Jonathan Rowe,
SPIN,
28 June 2022
Adjective
-
And extreme pain in my bones [that was] unexplainable.—
Cara Lynn Shultz,
People.com,
20 July 2025
-
Strange and unexplainable things happen on the show.—
Matt Zoller Seitz,
Vulture,
30 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Incommunicable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incommunicable. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.
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