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Glite Dictionary
unsingable

unsingable

7.2
Very hard to sing because the tune has very high or awkward notes
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈsɪŋəbl/
translation icon : incantable
  • frjim4321 says: wmeyer raises an interesting point regarding the psalms... it can be very challenging to sing using the unsingable translation in the breviary.
  • unsingable, ill-constructed descendant
  • unsingable, ill
  • Aggressive, unsingable

Examples

  • Many composers attempt to create melodies that are beautifully intricate, but some end up being unsingable.

  • Those three songs together, they're almost unsingable on their own.

    Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)

  • ♪ But many times We're given rhymes ♪ That are quite unsingable

    Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

  • Why do we sing this 'aggressive, unsingable, ill-constructed descendant of a raunchy bar ballad turned celebration of obscure military stalemate'?

    Academic text (2016)

  • A personal detour: Aggressive, unsingable, ill-constructed descendants of raunchy bar ballads turned celebration of obscure stalemates actually seem to me rather well-suited to football games.

    Academic text (2016)

  • The chorus of that new song is so complex that it’s almost unsingable for most people.

  • The musical piece is filled with rapid changes that make it nearly unsingable without extensive practice.

Antonyms

singable
1 3.5

Easy to sing with a clear, simple tune

How Singable

singable
1 3.5
unsingable
7.2

Surface Forms

unsingable positive

Morphology

unsingable = singable (transparent) = un + sing + able

Formed by adding the productive negation 'un-' to 'singable' (sing + -able), so the meaning 'not able to be sung' is directly derived.

Etymology

The word unsingable starts with un- meaning 'not', then sing, and the ending -able meaning 'able to'. So something unsingable is 'not able to be sung', usually because the tune is too hard, too high, or awkward.