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
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
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.
-
Instead, there were chuckles to hold back anger and carefully chosen words to express what felt inexpressible.
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.
-
Of course, beauty is subject to taste and culture and all sorts of indefinable things.
Adjective
-
There has been an indescribable joy sweeping New York City as of late, thanks to an unprecedented week of athletic endeavors.
-
From there, make room for Karolina Wydra, in a very tricky and indescribable Pluribus role; Allison Janney as the ultimate sparring partner in The Diplomat; and Amanda Peet, constantly threatening to steal Your Friends and Neighbors entirely.
Adjective
-
Trauma’s intensity and unknowable nature are perhaps what gives us the imperative to try to communicate it.
-
Dark, ancient, kind of unknowable.
Adjective
-
The organization said Kirbiyik, who spent 10 years alongside Deniz, had not noticed any signs of illness and was shocked by his sudden and inexplicable death.
-
This run of the 101 still has enough hipster plant shops, low-slung thrift spot and inexplicable little storefronts (Child of Wild?
Adjective
-
To make a lunge like that, with his studs up, seemed incomprehensible, never mind dangerous.
-
That principle has crumbled so far in the face of Wembanyama’s combination of incomprehensible on-court abilities, youthful enthusiasm and cosmopolitan-unto-eccentric savoir faire.
Adjective
-
An unaccountable concentration of political and private power is increasingly reshaping how America’s federal government operates, bending its political, legal, and economic systems away from the public good and toward private interests.
-
The enduring, if still somewhat unaccountable popularity of immersive experiences in the city (the Color Factory!
Adjective
-
To some, the Galatasaray forward’s selection in the starting line-up is unfathomable and is now being used to portray Nagelsmann as stubborn or unwilling to react to performances.
-
The money the Hornets still owed Ball was almost unfathomable in normal circles, but not in the NBA’s alternate universe.
Cite this Entry
“Unsayable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsayable. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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