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Glite Dictionary
unthinkability

unthinkability

9.1
A situation that is too hard to imagine or accept
  • noun
  • /ʌnˈθɪŋkəˌbɪlɪti/
translation icon : inconcebibilidad
  • The unthinkability of living without access to clean water is a reality for many communities.

Examples

  • The unthinkability of the sheer scale of the universe can leave many feeling both humbled and awestruck.

  • Amitav Ghosh takes a more critical stance, tracing a history of the novel form, especially its relationship to probability theory and individualism, that renders modern fiction complicit in the "unthinkability" of climate change.

    Academic text (2018)

  • Some of the richest and most original aspects of Kolnai's analysis center around his profound grasp of the "unthinkability" of the utopian desire to negate the very categories of conscience and practice (UM, 160).

    Academic text (1997)

  • For some people, the unthinkability of failure prevents them from even trying to pursue their dreams.

Synonyms

inconceivability
vsunthinkability
1 9.9

The state of being impossible to imagine or believe

stresses difficulty of acceptance or consideration rather than belief
inconceivableness
vsunthinkability
9.9

Being impossible to imagine or understand

focuses more on inability to accept or consider rather than just understand

How Thinkable

impossibility
37 5.3
unthinkability
9.1
plausibility
11 7.0

Surface Forms

unthinkability singular
unthinkabilities plural

Morphology

unthinkability = unthinkable (transparent) = un + think + ity

Formed by adding the noun-forming suffix '-ity' to the adjective 'unthinkable', a regular and predictable derivation.

Etymology

The word unthinkability is made from un- ('not'), think ('to imagine'), and -ability ('can' or 'state of being able'), like in thinkable and ability. So it means 'not able to be imagined' and is used for something so hard to accept or picture that people cannot believe it.