unmentionable
4
9.5
- noun
- /ʌnˈmɛnʃənəbl/
- Archaic
:
ropa interior
- If you find any unmentionables, they're mine.
Examples
-
Unmentionables?
-
- And other unmentionables.
-
- A pair of unmentionables, sir.
-
And do put your unmentionables back on.
Fiction book (1993) -
It's with her, uh, unmentionables.
-
I sew my money into my unmentionables.
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- Hide your unmentionables.
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Don't they wear unmentionables?
-
Zo's flimsy unmentionables gave way at the waistband and plummeted downward.
Fiction book (1997) -
He quickly grabbed his unmentionables before anyone could see them.
Synonyms
507
1.0
Clothes that you wear next to your skin under other clothes
22
2.4
Clothing you wear under other clothes next to the skin
3
8.4
A piece of clothing worn under other clothes like socks or an undershirt
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
unmentionable = unmentionable (semi-transparent) = un + mention + able
The noun is a conversion from the adjective 'unmentionable', but its use for underwear is a dated euphemism rather than a fully predictable naming pattern.
Etymology
Unmentionables was a polite, slightly funny name for underwear in older times; it uses un- 'not' and mention 'to speak about' to mean 'things not to be mentioned', so people used it instead of saying 'underwear' directly.