in·de·scrib·a·ble

(ĭn′dĭ-skrī′bə-bəl)

adj.

Impossible to describe adequately: indescribable joy.

in′de·scrib′a·bil′i·ty, in′de·scrib′a·ble·ness n.

in′de·scrib′a·bly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

indescribable

(ˌɪndɪˈskraɪbəbəl)

adj

beyond description; too intense, extreme, etc, for words

ˌindeˌscribaˈbility, ˌindeˈscribableness n

ˌindeˈscribably adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

in•de•scrib•a•ble

(ˌɪn dɪˈskraɪ bə bəl)

adj.

not describable; too extraordinary for description: indescribable confusion.

[1785–95]

in`de•scrib`a•bil′i•ty, in`de•scrib′a•ble•ness, n.

in`de•scrib′a•bly, adv.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

indescribable - defying expression or description; "indefinable yearnings"; "indescribable beauty"; "ineffable ecstasy"; "inexpressible anguish"; "unspeakable happiness"; "unutterable contempt"; "a thing of untellable splendor"

ineffable, unspeakable, untellable, unutterable, indefinable

inexpressible, unexpressible - defying expression

indescribable

adjective unutterable, indefinable, beyond words, ineffable, inexpressible, beyond description, incommunicable, beggaring description The stench from the sewer is indescribable.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

indescribable

adjective

That cannot be described:

incommunicable, indefinable, ineffable, inexpressible, undescribable, unspeakable, unutterable.

Idioms: beyond description, defying description.

Translations

indescrivibile indescrivibilmente

indescribable

[ˌɪndɪsˈkraɪbəbl] ADJ [terror, horror] → indescriptible, increíble; [beauty, joy] → indescriptible

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

indescribable

[ˌɪndɪˈskraɪbəb^əl] adj → indescriptible

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

indescribable

adj → unbeschreiblich; (inf: = terrible) → fürchterlich, schrecklich

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

indescribable

[ˌɪndɪsˈkraɪbəbl] adj → indescrivibile

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The freshness of her beauty was indeed gone, but its indescribable majesty and its indescribable charm remained.

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Overhead the sky was that indescribable blue of autumn; bright and shadowless, hard as enamel.

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I stole in very shyly, kept my eyes sternly from Nicolete's white bed, though, as I couldn't shut my ears, the sound of her breathing came to me with indescribable sweetness.

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It was a scene of indescribable confusion and uproar.

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Many a poisonous hotchpotch hath evolved in our cellars: many an indescribable thing hath there been done.

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The pictures, the statues, the flowers, the jewels, the carriages, and the horses--inquiry proved, to my indescribable astonishment, that not a sixpence of debt was owing on any of them.

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He imagined the young indescribable thing within himself was driving a long procession of figures be- fore his eyes.

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An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish.

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She rose, not as if she had heard me, but with an indescribable grand melancholy of indifference and detachment, and, within a dozen feet of me, stood there as my vile predecessor.

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It filled me with indescribable terror to think how swiftly that desolating change had come.

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Andrew!"- said the ungraceful, awkward princess with such an indescribable charm of sorrow and self-forgetfulness that her father could not bear her look but turned away with a sob.

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I had tried it several times, and David saw and promptly did his frog business, the while, with an indescribable emotion, I produced a night-light from my pocket and planted it in a saucer on the wash- stand.

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