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.—
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
-
For David and Tara Heidenreich, the moment their son Eli became a Steeler was nearly indescribable.—
Ross Guidotti,
CBS News,
27 Apr. 2026
-
So Clark, for whom physical intimacy with Carol is still something of a new adventure, recommends looking out for those little indescribable, unique physical details of a person that enhance presence and attraction.—
Andy Andersen,
Vulture,
30 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
In so many of his films, Spielberg tries to control and redefine something that is, on some level, unknowable and petrifying.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
9 June 2026
-
Gallner, meanwhile, keeps Oliver just unknowable enough to sustain an edgy crackle of tension.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
7 June 2026
Adjective
-
But the files reveal new details about some recent sightings, along with the government's efforts to explain what many find inexplicable.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
12 June 2026
-
Fox, who attempted an inexplicable layup rather than dribbling out the clock, and blocked the shot.—
Kyle Wagner,
New York Daily News,
11 June 2026
Adjective
-
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.—
Leah Asmelash,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
-
Those marks look incomprehensible in 2026.—
Esfandiar Baraheni,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
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.—
Lucy Lang,
Time,
10 June 2026
-
The enduring, if still somewhat unaccountable popularity of immersive experiences in the city (the Color Factory!—
Ian Volner,
Curbed,
4 June 2026
Adjective
-
So to not have caught this at some earlier stage was just unfathomable to me.—
Kerry Breen,
CBS News,
13 June 2026
-
That level of wealth, all owned by just one person, was once unfathomable.—
Wyatte Grantham-Philips,
Fortune,
12 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unsayable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsayable. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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