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Glite Dictionary
🤐 Impossible to express 🔄 Cannot be taken back 🚫 Too taboo to say
unsayable

unsayable

8.0
Impossible to take back once said
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈseɪəbl/
translation icon : irretractable
  • His unsayable statement during the meeting left everyone in shock and silence.

Examples

  • Someone who would say the unsayable and then attempt retraction.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • After realizing the impact of her unsayable remark, she wished she could take it back.

  • Once the unsayable truth was revealed, there was no turning back for the relationship.

Antonyms

retractable
8 5.8

Something you can pull back when not in use

How Reversible

reversible
14 3.9
retractable
8 5.8
irrevocable
14 8.1
unsayable
8.0

Surface Forms

unsayable positive

Morphology

unsayable = sayable (transparent) = un + say + able

The meaning is directly derived from 'sayable' with the prefix 'un-' indicating negation.

Etymology

Unsayable comes from un- 'not' and say 'speak', and in this sense it means 'not able to be taken back'. Think of it this way: once certain words are out you cannot 'unsay' them, so they stay and change things.