as in inexpressible
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Recent Examples of unsayable
Hordes of us are out there hoping to say the unsayable.
—
Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025
The tennis-ball POV from Challengers, Isabelle Huppert’s cat with the unknowable and unsayable name, the children dressed as Serge Gainsbourg on French TV.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024
And the true heroes, consequently, are those who dare to say the unsayable.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2024
This was a composer tasked with saying the unsayable against the unspeakable.
—Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
American literature took a while to say the unsayable.
—S. C. Cornell, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2023
With remarkable speed, however, the unsayable has become close to conventional wisdom.
—Michael Barnett, Foreign Affairs, 14 Apr. 2023
One senses that there’s an unsayable aspect to it.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 12 Oct. 2020
And thus stand up for the subconscious, for the unsaid and unsayable, for the historically and personally indigestible, for the unprettified, for the autonomy of an imagination that cannot escape history, and—more than anything else—for black freedom of expression itself.
—Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020
Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 28 Mar. 2025
The tennis-ball POV from Challengers, Isabelle Huppert’s cat with the unknowable and unsayable name, the children dressed as Serge Gainsbourg on French TV.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024
And the true heroes, consequently, are those who dare to say the unsayable.
—Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2024
This was a composer tasked with saying the unsayable against the unspeakable.
—Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 26 Jan. 2024
American literature took a while to say the unsayable.
—S. C. Cornell, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2023
With remarkable speed, however, the unsayable has become close to conventional wisdom.
—Michael Barnett, Foreign Affairs, 14 Apr. 2023
One senses that there’s an unsayable aspect to it.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 12 Oct. 2020
And thus stand up for the subconscious, for the unsaid and unsayable, for the historically and personally indigestible, for the unprettified, for the autonomy of an imagination that cannot escape history, and—more than anything else—for black freedom of expression itself.
—Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books, 27 Feb. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsayable
- inexpressible
- indefinable
- indescribable
- unknowable
- inexplicable
- incomprehensible
- unaccountable
- unfathomable
Adjective
-
Historians are struggling to recover their inexpressible secrets.—
Erin Maglaque,
The New York Review of Books,
15 Nov. 2024
-
Historians are struggling to recover their inexpressible secrets.—
Erin Maglaque,
The New York Review of Books,
15 Nov. 2024
Adjective
-
This East Coast city earns high marks year after year for its various dining options, museums, and the indefinable, electric energy of the city that never sleeps.—
Elizabeth Cantrell,
Travel + Leisure,
8 July 2025
-
Her work often explores indefinable experiences and emotions, intimacy, connection, and the body’s relationship to nature.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
19 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Winant crystallizes this idea of crossing a indescribable threshold through her discussion and analysis of masochism, an intrinsic component of athletic practice that intertwines physical pleasure with pain.—
Jessica Simmons-Reid,
Artforum,
1 June 2025
-
Winning back-to-back championships is indescribable, Bennett said as his team celebrated on the ice around him Tuesday night.—
Pierre LeBrun,
New York Times,
18 June 2025
Adjective
-
Whether Landry’s hot start continues is, of course, unknowable.—
Andrew Callahan,
Boston Herald,
24 July 2025
-
One feels chosen by the object of one’s desire, even as the locus of conversion remains unknowable, shrouded in some unconscious need.—
Terry Nguyen
July 23,
Literary Hub,
23 July 2025
Adjective
-
In a surprising and inexplicable way, as takeoffs and landings ceased, the feverish activity that airport grass hides under its seemingly peaceful surface came to a screeching halt.—
Fabio Morábito,
New Yorker,
24 July 2025
-
Among the new cast, Sui Wonders’s Ava is the most direct Julie James avatar: the brainy brunette with a haunted look in her eyes and an inexplicable, undying lust for her high-school boyfriend.—
Rachel Handler,
Vulture,
18 July 2025
Adjective
-
Her scream resonated with the one in my chest while also being incomprehensible and beyond me.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 July 2025
-
Without answers, the grieving process was incomprehensible.—
Skyler Caruso,
People.com,
24 July 2025
Adjective
-
The most radical overhaul of the tax code in our state’s history would require voter approval in November 2026, and that starts by portraying local governments as cartoonishly arrogant, bloated and unaccountable.—
Orlando Sentinel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 July 2025
-
The mullahs' rulers—unelected and unaccountable—face a citizenry that is increasingly emboldened and defiant.—
Tom Ridge,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 July 2025
Adjective
-
Blakely, along with 26 other Camp Mystic girls and counselors, perished in the deluge – forcing her family to endure yet another unfathomable tragedy.—
Pamela Brown,
CNN Money,
18 July 2025
-
But Aicher’s message got through: This wasn’t a pickle, this was a full-fledged disaster, unfolding with unfathomable fury.—
Mirjam Swanson,
Oc Register,
11 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unsayable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsayable. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.
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