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Glite Dictionary
unnarratable

unnarratable

9.9
Too difficult to tell as a story
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌnˈnɛrəˌteɪbəl/
  • Literature
translation icon : incontable
  • Some experiences are so profound that they seem unnarratable, defying description in any conventional way.

Examples

  • Nonetheless, these poets also painfully admit that they often face "unnarratable moments" which highlight the inherent inadequacy of representational language to put their sensory experience into words.

    Academic text (2005)

  • I mean, anything is unnarratable if we don't have a sense of a beginning and a middle and an end to bring to bear on it.

  • The feeling of loss can create moments that are truly unnarratable, leaving us at a loss for words.

  • When words fail to capture the essence of an event, it becomes unnarratable, existing only in the hearts of those who lived it.

Synonyms

unspeakable
vsunnarratable
58 7.2

Too terrible to describe in words

is impossible to tell or describe specifically as a story
unnameable
vsunnarratable
1 7.8

Hard to describe in words

is concerned with inability to present something as a story
unnamable
vsunnarratable
1 7.7

Too hard to describe in words

is focused on being untellable as a coherent narrative rather than naming
untellable
vsunnarratable
9.9

So great you cannot describe it in words

is impossible to tell or describe specifically as a story
unwritable
vsunnarratable
8.0

Very hard or impossible to describe clearly with words

is about being impossible to tell or describe as a story

Antonyms

narratable
6.4

Can be told as a story

tellable
5.1

Possible to share with other people by speaking

How Narratable

easy
∞ 1.0
possible
∞ 1.0
difficult
∞ 1.6
unnarratable
  • Literature
9.9

Surface Forms

unnarratable positive

Morphology

unnarratable = narratable (transparent) = un + narrate + able

Formed by productive prefixation 'un-' onto 'narratable' (narrate + -able); the negation of 'able to be narrated' is directly inferable.

Etymology

Unnarratable comes from un- 'not', narrate 'to tell a story', and -able 'can be'. So it names something that 'cannot be told' as a clear story, which is why we use it for events or feelings that are too strange or painful to explain.