UNATTAINABLE Synonyms: 106 Similar and Opposite Words

unattainable

adjective

ˌən-ə-ˈtā-nə-bəl

Definition of unattainable

as in inaccessible

hard or impossible to get to or get at an eagle's nest in an unattainable location

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in impossible

incapable of being solved or accomplished unfortunately, world peace is probably an unattainable ideal

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of unattainable Outsourcing questions about improving one’s appearance to software that was built to optimize someone’s looks based on existing patterns creates an endless spiral in which increasingly unattainable results are reinforced and standardized. — Jaimie Potters, InStyle, 5 Aug. 2026 Decades later, fulfilling the typical American Dream of a home with white picket fence dotting the front lawn has become all but unattainable, as home prices have soared 235% since January 2000. — Mia Osmonbekov, Fortune, 5 Aug. 2026 As a young couple with three children in the 1970s, Teresita Palomeque and her husband thought buying a house was an unattainable dream. — Constance Malleret, Christian Science Monitor, 1 Aug. 2026 By completing a four-game sweep of the Rays the Red Sox are in a place where the AL East title no longer looks unattainable. — Mac Cerullo, Hartford Courant, 19 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for unattainable

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unattainable

Adjective

Young children climb, and older children can reach places parents assume are inaccessible.

— Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 10 Sep. 2026
Many of the chambers in the caves are hard to reach, and it’s not known why the artists ventured into such inaccessible places.

— Michele Metych Britannica Editors Sep. 10, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of inaccessible

Adjective

Underwood wasn’t Michigan’s only problem, but his struggles were impossible to ignore.

— Austin Meek, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
In a community where trust in the immigration system and other authorities had eroded, Ortega became someone who had been through the same fear and knew how to navigate a system that many families found impossible to understand.

— Laura Rodríguez Presa, Chicago Tribune, 6 Sep. 2026

Definition of impossible

Adjective

The same technology could also be applied to commercial logistics operations where conventional delivery infrastructure is unavailable.

— Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2026
With fewer domestic discoveries, high import tariffs and fragmented markets that curtailed economies of scale in production, such extravagances were unavailable to Europeans, who became accustomed to smaller, more efficient cars.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of unavailable

Adjective

In any case, the epilogue sticks the landing and allows audiences to leave the theater feeling riled up rather than hopeless.

— Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 9 Sep. 2026
Corruption was endemic, and the country’s deeper troubles—its poverty, its social inequities, and the hopeless conditions that drive millions of Nepalis to emigrate for work—endured, laying the kindling for last year’s explosion.

— Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of hopeless

Adjective

Despite the 9/11 terrorist attacks, this mix of geography, deterrence, and power has led many Americans to feel almost untouchable at home.

— Seth G. Jones, Foreign Affairs, 3 Sep. 2026
The documentary is the true story of PK, a 23-year-old Delhi street artist from an ‘untouchable’ family, who, in 1977 set off on a 6000-mile cross-continent mission on a second hand bicycle to find Lotta, a tourist who had captured his heart.

— Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of untouchable

Adjective

Had the agency not restructured its mission plans, NASA's goal of landing astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade would have very likely been unobtainable.

— Josh Dinner, Space.com, 26 June 2026
There is Tamara, a city where signs symbolize unobtainable meanings.

— David Frum, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026

Definition of unobtainable

Browse Nearby Words

unattainability

unattainable

unattended

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Unattainable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unattainable. Accessed 17 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of unattainable

adjective

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

watershed

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Popular in Wordplay

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Games & Quizzes