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Ineffable

Adjective

IPA /ɪnˈɛfəbl/

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Meaning in plain English

Too great, beautiful, or extreme to be expressed in words.

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Pronunciation

Ineffable/ɪnˈɛfəbl/

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An overwhelming sense of wonder
Words cannot express it

Something ineffable is too great or intense to put into words.

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Examples in context

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The view from the mountain peak filled her with an ineffable sense of peace.
His love for her was ineffable—beyond anything he could describe.

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The view from the mountain peak filled her with an ________ sense of peace.

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Ineffable — Too great, beautiful, or extreme to be expressed in words.

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Too great, beautiful, or extreme to be expressed in words.

Compare: The view from the mountain peak filled her with an ineffable sense of peace.

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Ineffable is about expression

Ineffable describes a feeling or quality that seems beyond adequate words. It does not simply mean complicated or unknown. It often appears in literary descriptions of joy, beauty or sorrow. Use it when the difficulty is expressing the experience, rather than understanding a technical explanation.

In context: At the reunion, she felt an ineffable mixture of relief and joy.

Try it: You cannot understand an equation. Is ineffable the most precise description of the equation?

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Usually not. Difficult or abstruse would describe the challenge of understanding it; ineffable concerns what seems impossible to express.

Compare with Esoteric →

Dictionary reference: Merriam-Webster: Ineffable.

Word origin

From Latin ineffabilis — in- ("not") + effabilis ("able to be spoken"), from effari ("to speak out").

Did you know?

Ineffably is the adverb; ineffability is a noun for the quality of being beyond description.

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