unspeakable
uns·pea·kable
adjective
1.
defying expression or description
- “indefinable yearnings”
- “indescribable beauty”
- “ineffable ecstasy”
- “inexpressible anguish”
- “unspeakable happiness”
- “unutterable contempt”
- “a thing of untellable splendor”
2.
exceptionally bad or displeasing
- “atrocious taste”
- “abominable workmanship”
- “an awful voice”
- “dreadful manners”
- “a painful performance”
- “terrible handwriting”
- “an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room”
3.
- “the ineffable name of the Deity”
Origin
From Middle English unspekable, equivalent to un- + speakable.
Phrases
- avoidance speech
- elephant in the room
- emperor's new clothes
- head in the sand
- open secret
- polite fiction
- Streisand effect
- Voldemort effect
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.