as in inexpressible
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Recent Examples of unsayable
All the secrets pour out, the revelations of infidelity and addiction and so on, as the group gives vent to the stuff that’s previously been unsayable—not to fix anything, mind you, since some things can’t be fixed.
—
Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2026
What the novel is working toward is not the exposure of a violation, let alone the processing of any real-life event, but a recognition of the self—a self who survives the scourges of childhood, and a storytelling-self who learns that fiction can reveal otherwise unsayable truths.
—Honor Jones, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026
But Woolf’s broad, sweeping pronouncements about what literature is and isn’t capable of were always meant sarcastically; her life’s work, after all, was to push the boundaries of literature so as to say the unsayable.
—Literary Hub, 9 Dec. 2025
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
This was a composer tasked with saying the unsayable against the unspeakable.
—Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2026
What the novel is working toward is not the exposure of a violation, let alone the processing of any real-life event, but a recognition of the self—a self who survives the scourges of childhood, and a storytelling-self who learns that fiction can reveal otherwise unsayable truths.
—Honor Jones, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026
But Woolf’s broad, sweeping pronouncements about what literature is and isn’t capable of were always meant sarcastically; her life’s work, after all, was to push the boundaries of literature so as to say the unsayable.
—Literary Hub, 9 Dec. 2025
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
This was a composer tasked with saying the unsayable against the unspeakable.
—Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsayable
- inexpressible
- indefinable
- indescribable
- unknowable
- inexplicable
- incomprehensible
- unaccountable
- unfathomable
Adjective
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Of course, beauty is subject to taste and culture and all sorts of indefinable things.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
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
-
The siblings are cryptic and unknowable by design, and Jahan even more so for her silence.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Mar. 2026
-
Even their vision of outer space seldom imparts the sense of a terrifying, unknowable vastness.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
There are few things that bring me pure, inexplicable joy.—
Jenn Harris,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Mar. 2026
-
And because most women don’t know about the estrogen-dopamine connection, and most doctors don’t either, the crash feels inexplicable and deeply personal.—
Sarah Oreck,
SELF,
2 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
And sometimes tragic death truly is incomprehensible.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Mar. 2026
-
By dismissing shooters as incomprehensible villains, Peterson says, families and communities may miss warning signs in the young people around them.—
Brit McCandless Farmer,
CBS News,
2 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Chicago will need a new mayor willing to immediately tackle daunting challenges — a budget bordering on insolvency, nagging neighborhood crime, and a failing education system led by a powerful and unaccountable teachers union.—
Juan Rangel,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Mar. 2026
-
If there really was a class of unaccountable, libertine global élites plundering the world, then wasn’t Trump obviously a member?—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
24 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
For reasons this review cannot reveal, the Clyburns of New York find themselves in Montana to confront an unfathomable accident and all the gut-wrenching emotions and paperwork that come amid loss.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
13 Mar. 2026
-
But give the man credit for putting up numbers that are borderline unfathomable, small sample size notwithstanding.—
Barry Jackson,
Miami Herald,
10 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unsayable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsayable. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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