indescribable

English

Etymology

From in- +‎ describe +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪndɪˈskɹaɪbəbl̩/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: in‧de‧scri‧ba‧ble

Adjective

indescribable (comparative more indescribable, superlative most indescribable)

1. Impossible (or very difficult) to describe.

   He proved it with indescribable mathematics.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     Presently the men set up the melancholy little chant that I had heard on the first night when we were captured in the whaleboat, and the effect produced by their voices was very curious, and quite indescribable.

   • 1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, London: Methuen & Co., , published 1907, →OCLC; The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1907, →OCLC, page 15:

     But there was also about him an indescribable air which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however dishonestly exercised: [...] the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; [...]

2. Exceeding all description.

   Our hotel had an indescribable view of the Bay of Naples.

   • 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XIV, in Duty and Inclination: , volume III, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 182:

     The time was when, had such an idea entered her mind, it would have been torture indescribable and agony the most intense; but then, subdued as was the usual warmth of her temperament, an awful suspension seemed to hold her feelings in control.

Synonyms

• undescribable
• ineffable
• See also Thesaurus:indescribable

Antonyms

• describable

Related terms

• indescribability
• indescribably

Translations

See also

• unspeakable

Further reading

• “indescribable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “indescribable”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.