ineffably
1
9.8
- adverb
- /ɪˈnɛfəbli/
- Formal
:
inefablemente
- An ineffably male room, the shutters closed, just the thinnest shaft of light piercing the gloom.
- ineffably mysterious
- ineffably sad
Examples
-
Marshall's whiskey- and Parliament-infused voice is so mournful, pained, and ineffably beautiful that you could have her singing over an industrial record and it would still sound pretty.
Blog text (10) -
It's just ineffably sad to see a group of intelligent young people so readily reject the evidence of their senses.
Blog text (10) -
Is there something ineffably great about a live performance?
Blog text (34) -
A place so ineffably sacred, so powerful... that to enter is instant death.
-
"But her eyes had been ineffably sad, and he'd had to turn away.
Fiction book (1994) -
We tend to emphasize the kingdom of God here and now, and heaven as the ineffably joyful presence of God.
Blog text (34) -
For these things, even as they're evoked, remain ineffably distant and strange.
Academic text (1993) -
It is ineffably mysterious.
Academic text (2004) -
We recognize in ourselves other powers of divine knowledge; we find in ourselves that inferential sense, of which Newman speaks, by which we can be assured of the presence of higher and ineffably mysterious powers with which we are in direct contact.
Academic text (2010) -
The sunset over the ocean was ineffably beautiful, leaving everyone in awe.
Synonyms
172
2.8
In a way that is very surprising and hard to believe
137
3.9
To a much higher level than usual
128
3.5
To a very large degree
107
3.7
In a way that is very surprising or seems impossible
84
2.1
To a very great degree
57
4.6
To a very great degree
50
3.9
To a very great degree
31
5.7
To a very great degree that seems like it cannot be true
17
5.2
To a very great degree
12
4.9
So strong or bad that you cannot stand it
10
5.4
To a very great degree that you cannot count
8
6.8
Very much in a way that is hard to describe
8
6.8
To a degree that is very hard to believe
4
6.5
In a way that is so strong it is hard to put into words
3
5.8
To a very large degree
2
6.1
In a very impressive way that surprises people
2
7.7
In a way that is very hard to imagine
2
6.3
Much better than anything else
1
8.2
In a way that is so great it cannot be understood or believed
1
7.7
Very much in a way that words cannot describe
1
8.1
So strong that you cannot find words to describe it
1
7.5
An amount so great you cannot imagine
1
7.6
By a very large amount that cannot be measured
1
8.4
To a very great degree
1
8.6
So great that you cannot measure it
1
8.5
In a way that is much better than usual
1
6.4
To a very great degree used to show strong feeling
In a way you cannot clearly describe
How Expressible
- Formal
1
9.8
4
6.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Ineffably comes from the parts in- meaning 'not' and fari meaning 'to speak'. So, something described ineffably is 'not able to be said' and is too great or beautiful to put into words.