inexpressibility
- noun
- /ˌɪnɪkˈsprɛsɪbɪlɪti/
- She felt a profound inexpressibility when she gazed at the breathtaking sunset, unable to articulate the beauty she witnessed.
Examples
-
It testifies to the figurative inadequacy and inexpressibility before the terrifying abyss and reveals the impossible task of recuperating in words the horror beyond language.
Academic text (1997) -
His feelings of loss were steeped in inexpressibility, leaving him searching for words that could never quite capture his grief.
-
Assuming this "logic of inconsistency," the problem of impossibility becomes one of inexpressibility.
Academic text (1995) -
It is common in writings on spirituality to find the trope of ineffability or inexpressibility.
Academic text (2015) -
The artist's work conveyed a sense of inexpressibility that spoke volumes without the need for verbal explanation.
Synonyms
Something you cannot say in words
A state that is impossible or very hard to describe in words
Hard to describe in words
A state of being impossible to fully describe in words
Being unable to tell or share feelings with other people
A feeling or event too terrible to describe in words
A state where you cannot describe something exactly
Antonyms
How Expressible
Surface Forms
Morphology
inexpressibility = inexpressible (transparent) = in + express + ible + ity
This is a standard noun formation from the adjective 'inexpressible' meaning the state or quality of being inexpressible.
Etymology
Inexpressibility comes from in- meaning 'not' and express meaning 'to say' or 'to press out', which is the same root as press. So inexpressibility describes something you cannot put into words or easily say.