unanswerable
7
6.8
- adjective
- /ʌnˈænsərəbəl/
- The debate ended with several unanswerable questions that left everyone puzzled.
- an unanswerable question
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Watch on YouTubeThis is such an unanswerable question in this moment.
- This is such an unanswerable question in this moment.
- Like these sort of incessant, basically unanswerable questions.
- The radar would lock and so, so then the question is, and this is unanswerable, but let's try.
- And that is essentially an unanswerable question.
- Meeropol, your letter is completely unanswerable because it drags up out of darkness and confirms so much.
- Is is rhetorical and unanswerable to their face.
- But yeah, that was like a long answer to a long, beautiful answer to a unanswerable question.
Examples
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And here the Controller was demanding an answer to an unanswerable question.
Fiction book (2000) -
Yet the phenomenon of secular fertility decline has posed unanswerable questions from the beginning.
Academic text (1997) -
Yet a number of issues present themselves immediately, along with a number of still unanswerable questions.
Academic text (1997) -
And that is essentially an unanswerable question.
-
Indeed, it is possible that each side saw the other's as unanswerable.
Academic text (1997) -
We're here for the unanswerable questions and, really, to pursue truth.
-
There are many mysteries and unanswerable questions, even in a life as short as yours.
-
Even those questions that ostensibly call for specific information are unanswerable within the conceptual framework of their construction.
Academic text (1994) -
For some critics, the whirlwind revelation answers many questions; for others, it generates even more unanswerable questions.
Academic text (2006) -
The question of whether to audition elementary choirs seems to be a never-ending, unanswerable dilemma.
Academic text (1992)
Synonyms
45
7.8
Hard to explain or understand
19
7.0
Something people cannot understand or find a clear reason for
19
7.4
Something you cannot find out or understand
12
8.9
Hard to understand because it shows no clear meaning or feeling
10
8.2
Clearly true and impossible to doubt
7
5.3
Not possible to find an answer
3
7.5
Too difficult to solve or deal with, like a problem
2
6.7
Impossible to deny or argue with
1
8.2
Not able to be solved or settled
1
5.9
Impossible to disagree with because the facts are clear
1
9.2
Hard to predict or measure exactly
1
7.9
Impossible for people to solve or settle
1
4.7
Certain and impossible to doubt
1
9.9
A problem you cannot show true or false using the rules of a system
1
8.1
No one can find an answer to it
1
8.6
Difficult to understand even after thinking about it
1
6.8
Certain and clearly true
1
7.6
It is not possible to know for sure
1
7.8
Impossible to find a solution
1
9.8
Not possible to find out for certain
1
9.9
No one can beat or prove it wrong
Not able to be fixed or changed
Antonyms
How Answerable
Surface Forms
Morphology
unanswerable = answerable (transparent) = un + answer + able
The meaning is a straightforward negation: 'un-' added to 'answerable' yields 'not capable of being answered'.
Etymology
Unanswerable is made of un- ('not'), answer ('reply'), and -able ('can be'), so it simply means 'not able to be answered'. That's why unanswerable describes a question or argument that no one can reply to.