untellable
- adjective
- /ʌnˈtɛləbəl/
:
inexpresable
- untellable story
Examples
-
"Or that do exist, but are untellable, I thought.
Fiction book (1991) -
Like most history, however, it constitutes an untellable truth.
Academic text (2005) -
She had told untellable tales brought home from far stars.
Fiction book (1997) -
But at the same time, we occasionally know that this intimate, incommensurable something coincides with and, in fact, is the one true, untellable story in which we are all being told.
Academic text (1993) -
For David, on the contrary, it is Dulcie's very realness—the materiality of her body and the devastating violations perpetrated on it—that makes her story so essentially untellable.
Academic text (2008) -
The beauty of the sunset was so breathtaking that it felt untellable in its magnificence.
-
Her grief was untellable, a depth of sadness that words could never capture.
-
He experienced an untellable joy when he saw his family after many years apart.
Synonyms
58
7.2
Too terrible to describe in words
21
5.4
So wonderful or strange that words cannot show it
8
9.5
So great that words cannot describe it
4
6.9
Hard to describe or explain in words
3
7.5
A feeling so strong that you cannot describe it in words
3
6.8
Hard to describe exactly in words
1
8.9
Too great or strong to put into words
1
7.7
Too hard to describe in words
1
8.5
Too hard to put into words
So strong or deep that words cannot describe it
Too difficult to tell as a story
Antonyms
How Expressible
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word untellable is built from un- meaning 'not', the verb tell as in 'tell a story', and -able meaning 'able to be'. So untellable literally means 'not able to be told', which is why we use it for something too deep or great to put into words.