Unutterable

//(ˌ)ʌnˈʌt(ə)ɹəbl̩// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Something which is unutterable (incapable of being physically spoken, incapable of being articulated or expressed, etc.).
Adjective
  1. 1
    Not utterable; incapable of being physically spoken or voiced; unpronounceable.
  2. 2
    Incapable of being articulated or expressed; indescribable, inexpressible.

    "unutterable anguish"

  3. 3
    Not allowed to be spoken; taboo, unspeakable.

    "Hovv oft the humble Scholar came, / And to your Songs he rais'd his Ears / To learn the Unutterable Name, / To view the Eternal Baſe that bears / The Nevv Creations Frame."

  4. 4
    Extremely bad or objectionable; unspeakable. figuratively

    "These unutterable people upon the telephone have already ruined my morning's work, so that a little more can hardly matter."

Adjective
  1. 1
    very difficult to pronounce correctly wordnet
  2. 2
    defying expression or description wordnet
  3. 3
    too sacred to be uttered wordnet

Example

More examples

"The unutterable agony of the parents, the horror and confusion of all who were in the castle, the fury of contending passions between the friends of the different parties—passions augmented by previous intemperance—surpass description."

Etymology

From un- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + utterable.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.