Unputdownable
adj, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Of a person, etc.: difficult or impossible to put down (in various senses). informal
"I have known an operating surgeon, because he possessed a medical title, to be elected physician to a county hospital. I have known the surgical staff for years refuse to recognize this irregular. Yet, after all, when he became popular and unputdownable, giving in their isolated adhesions to the conqueror, not because they had altered their sentiments, but that their pockets taught them, like nature, to abhor a vacuum."
- 2 Of a book or other written work: so captivating or engrossing that one cannot bear to stop reading it. informal, specifically
"I found it absolutely (or almost) unputdownable and at the same time as complete a waste of time in a sense as one of [Erle Stanley] Gardner's Perry Mason stories, which I also find unputdownable."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"I have known an operating surgeon, because he possessed a medical title, to be elected physician to a county hospital. I have known the surgical staff for years refuse to recognize this irregular. Yet, after all, when he became popular and unputdownable, giving in their isolated adhesions to the conqueror, not because they had altered their sentiments, but that their pockets taught them, like nature, to abhor a vacuum."
Etymology
From un- + put down + -able.
Related phrases
More for "unputdownable"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.