different between unspeakable vs outrageous

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

Alternative forms

• outragious (archaic)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman outrageus, Middle French outrageus, from outrage; equivalent to outrage +? -ous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /a?t??e?d??s/
• Rhymes: -e?d??s

Adjective

outrageous (comparative more outrageous, superlative most outrageous)

1. Violating morality or decency; provoking indignation or affront. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, First Folio 1623:

     To be, or not to be, that is the Question: / Whether 'tis Nobler in the minde to suffer / The Slings and Arrowes of outragious Fortune, / Or to take Armes against a Sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them [...].

   • 2011, Paul Wilson, The Guardian, 19 Oct 2011:

     The Irish-French rugby union whistler Alain Rolland was roundly condemned for his outrageous decision that lifting a player into the air then turning him over so he falls on his head or neck amounted to dangerous play.

2. Transgressing reasonable limits; extravagant, immoderate. [from 14th c.]
   • 2004, David Smith, The Observer, 19 Dec 2004:

     Audience members praised McKellen, best known for Shakespearean roles and as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, for his show-stealing turn as Twankey in a series of outrageous glitzy dresses.

3. Shocking; exceeding conventional behaviour; provocative. [from 18th c.]
   • 2001, Imogen Tilden, The Guardian, 8 Dec 2001:

     "It's something I really am quite nervous about," he admits, before adding, with relish: "You have to be a bit outrageous and challenging sometimes."

4. (now rare) Fierce, violent. [from 14th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     For els my feeble vessell, crazd and crackt / Through thy strong buffets and outrageous blowes, / Cannot endure, but needes it must be wrackt [...].

Derived terms

• outrageously
• outrageousness

Related terms

• outrage

Translations

Further reading

• outrageous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• outrageous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.