different between unspeakable vs inexplicable

English

Etymology

From Middle English unspekable, equivalent to un- +? speakable.

Pronunciation

Adjective

unspeakable (comparative more unspeakable, superlative most unspeakable)

1. Incapable of being spoken or uttered

   Synonyms: unutterable, ineffable, inexpressible

   • 1855-1882, Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, book xv,

     The endless pride and outstretching of man, unspeakable joys and sorrows.

2. Unfit or not permitted to be spoken or described.
   • 1916, James Joyce, A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man, ch. 3,

     The miser will remember his hoard of gold, the robber his ill-gotten wealth, the angry and revengeful and merciless murderers their deeds of blood and violence in which they revelled, the impure and adulterous the unspeakable and filthy pleasures in which they delighted.

3. Extremely bad or objectionable.

   an unspeakable fool

   an unspeakable play

   • 1926, H.P. Lovecraft, The Outsider,

     Yet to my horror I saw in its eaten-away and bone-revealing outlines a leering, abhorrent travesty on the human shape; and in its mouldy, disintegrating apparel an unspeakable quality that chilled me even more.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:indescribable

Derived terms

• unspeakably
• unspeakableness

Translations

References

• unspeakable in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “unspeakable” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "unspeakable" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002)
• "unspeakable" in Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
• “unspeakable”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• "unspeakable" at Rhymezone (Datamuse, 2006).
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)

Scots

Etymology

un- +? speak +? -able

Adjective

unspeakable (comparative mair unspeakable, superlative maist unspeakable)

1. unspeakable

English

Etymology

From Middle English inexplicable, from Middle French inexplicable, from Latin inexplic?bilis, from in- (“not”) +? explic?bilis (“explicable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n.?k?spl?.k?.bl?/, /?n??k.spl?.k?.b?l/

Adjective

inexplicable (comparative more inexplicable, superlative most inexplicable)

1. Impossible to explain; not easily accounted for.

   Synonyms: inexplainable, unexplainable, insoluble; see also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

   Antonyms: explicable; see also Thesaurus:comprehensible

Derived terms

Translations

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin inexplic?bilis.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /in.?ks.pli?ka.bl?/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /in.eks.pli?ka.ble/
• Rhymes: -a?le

Adjective

inexplicable (masculine and feminine plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablement

Further reading

• “inexplicable” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “inexplicable” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “inexplicable” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “inexplicable” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From Latin inexplic?bilis; synchronically, in- +? explicable

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.n?k.spli.kabl/

Adjective

inexplicable (plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable, unexplainable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablement

Further reading

• “inexplicable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Galician

Alternative forms

• inexplicábel

Etymology

From Latin inexplic?bilis.

Adjective

inexplicable m or f (plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable, unexplainable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablemente

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin inexplic?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ine?spli?kable/, [i.ne??s.pli?ka.??le]

Adjective

inexplicable (plural inexplicables)

1. inexplicable, unexplainable

   Antonym: explicable

Derived terms

• inexplicablemente