English Dictionary

UNTHINKABLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does unthinkable mean? 

UNTHINKABLE (adjective)
  The adjective UNTHINKABLE has 1 sense:

1. incapable of being conceived or consideredplay

  Familiarity information: UNTHINKABLE used as an adjective is very rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


UNTHINKABLE (adjective)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Incapable of being conceived or considered

Similar:

impossible; inconceivable; out of the question; unimaginable (totally unlikely)

Also:

incredible; unbelievable (beyond belief or understanding)

impossible (not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with)

Antonym:

thinkable (capable of being conceived or imagined or considered)


 Context examples 


He regarded her for a moment as though the thought she had uttered was unthinkable.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On the other hand, it seemed an unthinkable coincidence that a man should dare to enter the room, and that by chance on that very day the papers were on the table.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The day's events had prepared him for the unknown to manifest itself in most stupendous and unthinkable ways.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It is unthinkable.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was all so unthinkable.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the bid of the saint's eyes was mystery, and wonder unthinkable, and eternal life.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was the very essence of the unknown; it was the sum of the terrors of the unknown, the one culminating and unthinkable catastrophe that could happen to him, about which he knew nothing and about which he feared everything.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

That is unthinkable.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was all right enough, down whence he had come, for youths and maidens to win each other by contact; but for the exalted personages up above on the heights to make love in similar fashion had seemed unthinkable.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"All's fair in love and war." (English proverb)

"Don't let yesterday use up too much of today." (Native American proverb, Cherokee)

"A weaning baby that does not cry aloud, will die on its mothers back." (Zimbabwean proverb)

"A curse turns against the one who uttered it." (Corsican proverb)



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