UNSAYABLE Synonyms: 52 Similar and Opposite Words

unsayable

adjective

Definition of unsayable

as in inexpressible

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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 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsayable

Adjective

The universe of the film, as all of Nolan’s worlds are, is one drawn from the muted colors of reluctant determination and it’s structured by a gravity of inexpressible guilt.

— Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 17 July 2026
Much like the famed British poets of World War I, who sought to express the inexpressible, Abu Toha strives to capture the unspeakable carnage, futility, and despair of war.

— Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025

Definition of 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.

— 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

Definition of indefinable

Adjective

The brain-squeezing rush of those starts is nearly indescribable.

— Lawrence Ulrich, Robb Report, 15 July 2026
Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin’s totally indescribable HBO series was both a grand evolution of the Tim Robinson experience and a wildly original contribution to what television could be and feel like.

— Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 8 July 2026

Definition of indescribable

Adjective

As Nora’s speech and Catherine’s kind moments suggest, characters’ actions don’t consistently reflect their overall moral stance, which is often based on misunderstandings and falsehoods, its validity unknowable even to them.

— Judy Berman, Time, 27 July 2026
Messi spent two decades becoming famous while remaining almost unknowable.

— Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 20 July 2026

Definition of unknowable

Adjective

Fans rightfully mocked the dancing cars mounted on robot arms that played during an inexplicable diversion on Universal Studios Hollywood’s Studio Tour.

— Robert Niles, Oc Register, 21 July 2026
They were shocked by their inexplicable sloppiness, by a flop that not a single one of them could answer for.

— Henry Bushnell, New York Times, 7 July 2026

Definition of inexplicable

Adjective

Here are three stars that appear neatly connected overhead, but in reality, one is separated by an incomprehensible distance.

— Jamie Carter, Space.com, 24 July 2026
By that point, almost five minutes down on yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar, the Tour may already have been done — save for an incomprehensible effort over Alpe d’Huez, or misfortune to Pogacar himself.

— Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 21 July 2026

Definition of incomprehensible

Adjective

But critics say the bodies have become unelected, unaccountable usurpers of presidential and judicial power.

— Laurent Belsie, Christian Science Monitor, 29 June 2026
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.

— Lucy Lang, Time, 10 June 2026

Definition of unaccountable

Adjective

Google has reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2026 (PDF), and as usual, the search giant raked in an unfathomable amount of money.

— Ryan Whitwam, ArsTechnica, 23 July 2026
When Mina’s closest friend Lucy succumbs to his thrall, the enigmatic Professor Van Helsing is summoned to wage war on this unfathomable threat.

— Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 22 July 2026

Definition of unfathomable

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unsay

unsayable

unsaying

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“Unsayable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsayable. Accessed 4 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of unsayable

adjective

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