as in incredible
beyond the power to describe
an ineffable beauty descends upon the canyon as the sun begins to set
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Recent Examples of ineffable
If anything, ChatGPT-3 has something of the oracular about it; for as mysterious as the writing process of any author may be in all sorts of intangible and ineffable ways, any person who works in words also understands what’s prosaic and gritty (and thus all the more beautiful) about writing.
—
Literary Hub, 21 Jan. 2026
The film draws power from the subtle specificity; Børsum’s voice, low and knowing, comes suffused with an ineffable meaning.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 5 Jan. 2026
Some of those moms include the terrific performers Cindy Cheung and Liz Wisan, and the play itself promises satire, songs, bouffon, bodily fluids, and, underneath it all, a contemplation of overwhelming joy and ineffable heartache.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 31 Dec. 2025
One reason medieval mystics resorted to apophatic language was to suggest the ineffable majesty of God, the God beyond God.
—Christian Wiman, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ineffable
Literary Hub, 21 Jan. 2026
The film draws power from the subtle specificity; Børsum’s voice, low and knowing, comes suffused with an ineffable meaning.
—Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 5 Jan. 2026
Some of those moms include the terrific performers Cindy Cheung and Liz Wisan, and the play itself promises satire, songs, bouffon, bodily fluids, and, underneath it all, a contemplation of overwhelming joy and ineffable heartache.
—Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 31 Dec. 2025
One reason medieval mystics resorted to apophatic language was to suggest the ineffable majesty of God, the God beyond God.
—Christian Wiman, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ineffable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ineffable
Adjective
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Go up against incredible competition and the expectations and some change, right?—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
30 Mar. 2026
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We were robbed of an incredible human.—
Sarah D. Wire,
USA Today,
29 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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And then to be asked to sing my own song with one of my idols is kind of an indescribable feeling.—
Ethan Millman,
HollywoodReporter,
11 Mar. 2026
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Lots of us can remember George Graham’s Arsenal snatching the league from Liverpool in 1989 and the epic, almost indescribable drama of Michael Thomas scoring the decisive goal with virtually the last kick of the season.—
Daniel Taylor,
New York Times,
5 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Our hearts go out to the innocent juvenile victim of this unspeakable crime and her family.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
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Our hearts go out to the innocent juvenile victim of this unspeakable crime and her family.—
Taijuan Moorman,
USA Today,
20 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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If everything is systematically interlinked, then life’s transcendent beauty is inextricable from its inexpressible horrors and outright silliness, like the jarring swings between slapstick and tragedy in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.—
Jack Denton,
Vulture,
6 Oct. 2025
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Instead, there were chuckles to hold back anger and carefully chosen words to express what felt inexpressible.—
Tim Britton,
New York Times,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Our movie tastes are determined by some indefinable electrical current of enthusiasm or joy or deep, radiating sadness, or some combination of the three.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
24 Feb. 2026
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Of course, beauty is subject to taste and culture and all sorts of indefinable things.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Stripped of orchestral arrangement, the emotion in Ross’s voice provokes that unutterable connection that makes singer and listener one in a desire to act in the present for the present.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Dec. 2025
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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
Adjective
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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,
Washington Post,
31 Aug. 2022
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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
Cite this Entry
“Ineffable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ineffable. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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