1
as in inaccessible
hard or impossible to get to or get at
an eagle's nest in an unattainable location
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in impossible
incapable of being solved or accomplished
unfortunately, world peace is probably an unattainable ideal
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of unattainable
With housing prices and the cost of living skyrocketing, homeownership feels increasingly unattainable for most people.
—
Caroline Hughes, Travel + Leisure, 17 Jan. 2026
Just as Hedayat’s narrator tries to preserve the fleeting presence of the ethereal woman through an image, Golshiri’s protagonist has spent a lifetime writing this unattainable woman into his fiction to keep her alive.
—Amir Ahmadi Arian, The Dial, 15 Jan. 2026
Safe and efficient solar generation and storage technology currently exists that can give consumers relief from this increase, if policymakers eliminate unnecessary, antiquated and costly regulations that make this choice unattainable for Floridians.
—Bob Norberg, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Jan. 2026
Mushrooms lend earthiness and veal stock adds something far more unattainable, like a warm memory that's been lost in your head forever.
—Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati Enquirer, 28 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unattainable
Caroline Hughes, Travel + Leisure, 17 Jan. 2026
Just as Hedayat’s narrator tries to preserve the fleeting presence of the ethereal woman through an image, Golshiri’s protagonist has spent a lifetime writing this unattainable woman into his fiction to keep her alive.
—Amir Ahmadi Arian, The Dial, 15 Jan. 2026
Safe and efficient solar generation and storage technology currently exists that can give consumers relief from this increase, if policymakers eliminate unnecessary, antiquated and costly regulations that make this choice unattainable for Floridians.
—Bob Norberg, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Jan. 2026
Mushrooms lend earthiness and veal stock adds something far more unattainable, like a warm memory that's been lost in your head forever.
—Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati Enquirer, 28 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for unattainable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unattainable
Adjective
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The film went out of circulation after a single television screening and has been largely inaccessible for nearly four decades.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
14 Feb. 2026
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But digital forensics experts kept working to find images in back-end software that might have been lost, corrupted or inaccessible.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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When the sun moves away from the node, the season ends, and eclipses become impossible again.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
13 Feb. 2026
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Word of mouth slowly led to the first Superblast being impossible to find after its introduction in 2022, and consumer appetite was fed with slight updates and greater stock on the Superblast 2 two years later.—
Ian Servantes,
Footwear News,
13 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Yet, for a host of reasons—including postwar Soviet memory politics, the geopolitics of the Cold War, and the marginalization of Yiddish and Soviet Jewish literature—narratives of this experience remain largely unavailable to Western readers.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 Feb. 2026
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Even with essentially his entire starting lineup unavailable because of injuries, Lakers coach JJ Redick still looked forward to competing against a worthy opponent in the San Antonio Spurs.—
Broderick Turner,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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From what looked like a hopeless position just a few weeks ago, the subscribers are now off the bottom of the table and gearing up for a potential title challenge.—
Oliver Kay,
New York Times,
30 Jan. 2026
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And if the hypotheticals are not enough to dissuade, history is littered with teams trading away their future for immediate glories, seeing their plans implode, and being left with a ruinous future that becomes a hopeless present while another team reaps the benefits.—
Joseph Dycus,
Mercury News,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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On stage, Vittorini doesn’t position himself as perfect or untouchable.—
William Jones,
USA Today,
11 Feb. 2026
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The Miller Beach site is touted for developing as much as 760 acres along the lakefront, but that includes about 100 acres that are part of Indiana Dunes National Park and should be untouchable for any development uses.—
Edward Keegan,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Prices are inflated in January and, as Everton found, many top targets are often unobtainable.—
Patrick Boyland,
New York Times,
3 Feb. 2026
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In his case, the beloved was the unobtainable Beatrice Portinari, a wealthy banker’s daughter whom Dante claimed to have loved from their first meeting, when both were children—a bit of charming self-mythology—and steadily on until her untimely death, at twenty-four.—
Claudia Roth Pierpont,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unattainable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unattainable. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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