unthinkable

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ think +‎ -able.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈθɪŋkəbəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

unthinkable (comparative more unthinkable, superlative most unthinkable)

1. Incapable of being believed; incredible.
2. Inconceivable or unimaginable; extremely improbable in a way that goes against common sense.

   Nothing is unthinkable, nothing impossible to the balanced person, provided it comes out of the needs of life and is dedicated to life's further development - Lewis Mumford

   • 2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     With 16 minutes left on the clock and the tension climbing through the roof, Trinh-Duc tried his luck with a penalty from just inside halfway only to push it wide, but the unthinkable now seemed a real possibility.

   • 2021 November 10, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chayut Setboonsarng, “Thai court rules students' royal reform call sought to overthrow monarchy”, in Reuters‎^[2], Reuters, retrieved 2021-11-10:

     The ruling also comes amid calls from an opposition party for a review of the royal insult law, which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

   • 2023 August 23, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Check out Britain's famous station hotels: St Pancras”, in RAIL, number 990, page 61:

     It reopened as St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London in the early part of this century, and it now seens unthinkable to demolish such a structure.

3. Extremely improper; extremely at odds with norms of expected behavior; taboo.
   • 1980 December 20, Von Carswell, quotee, “Still At It”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 22, page 2:

     I want you to know that P.A.C. will pay for a child psychiatrist to come in and testify on behalf of the child so that the homosexual father will not be able to have that little girl overnight and weekends to expose her to what is unthinkable.

   • 2019 April 10, qntm, “CASE HATE RED”, in SCP Foundation‎^[3], archived from the original on 29 May 2024:

     But... No. Luján broke his violin. That part definitely happened; he remembers it with distressing clarity. His relationship with Luján has never been much more than tepidly professional, but the man was a professional. To vandalise a precious instrument like that would be unthinkable for him, or anybody in the orchestra. There is something wrong.

     With everybody.

     Except him.

Translations

incapable of being believed; incredible

• Bulgarian: немислим (bg) (nemislim)
• Catalan: impensable
• Danish: utænkelig, utrolig
• Dutch: ondenkbaar (nl)
• French: incroyable (fr)
• Georgian: დაუჯერებელი (dauǯerebeli), წარმოუდგენელი (c̣armoudgeneli)
• German: unvorstellbar (de)
• Hungarian: hihetetlen (hu)
• Italian: impensabile (it)
• Korean: 상상도 할 수 없는 (sangsangdo hal su eomneun)
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: utenkjeleg

• Polish: niewiarygodne
• Portuguese: impensável
• Romanian: neimaginabil (ro), de neimaginat, incredibil (ro), negândibil m, imposibil (ro) m
• Russian: немы́слимый (ru) (nemýslimyj)
• Swedish: otänkbar (sv)
• Turkish: düşünülemez

inconceivable or unimaginable; extremely improbable in a way that goes against common sense

• Bulgarian: невероятен (bg) (neverojaten)
• Catalan: impensable
• Danish: utænkelig
• Esperanto: nepensebla (eo)
• Finnish: käsittämätön (fi)
• French: inconcevable (fr), impensable (fr), inimaginable (fr)
• Georgian: წარმოუდგენელი (c̣armoudgeneli)
• German: undenkbar (de), unvorstellbar (de)
• Greek: αδιανόητος (el) (adianóitos)
• Hungarian: elképzelhetetlen (hu)
• Latin: incōgitābilis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utenkelig

  Nynorsk: utenkeleg, utenkjeleg

• Plautdietsch: ondenkjboa
• Portuguese: impensável
• Romanian: de neconceput, inconceptibil (ro), inimaginabil (ro), neimaginabil (ro)
• Russian: немы́слимый (ru) (nemýslimyj)
• Spanish: impensable (es)
• Swedish: otänkbar (sv)
• Turkish: düşünülemez, kavranılamaz

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “unthinkable”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.