different between unutterable vs unsayable

English

Etymology

From un- +? utterable.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n??t(?)??bl?/, /?n??t(?)??b?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??n??t??bl?/, /??n??t??b?l/, [??n????.??bl?]

Adjective

unutterable (comparative more unutterable, superlative most unutterable)

1. Not utterable; incapable of being spoken or voiced
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 11, lines 3-8,^[1]

     Prevenient grace descending had removed

     The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh

     Regenerate grow instead; that sighs now breathed

     Unutterable; which the Spirit of prayer

     Inspired, and winged for Heaven with speedier flight

     Than loudest oratory: […]

   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Chapter 20,^[2]

     […] he was caressed by all the people in the neighbourhood, who, while they admired his accomplishments, could not help pitying his infatuated mother, for being deprived of that unutterable delight which any other parent would have enjoyed in the contemplation of such an amiable son.

   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Chapter 12,^[3]

     […] in this manner, Anne walking by her side, and Charles attending to his wife, they set forward, treading back with feelings unutterable, the ground, which so lately, so very lately, and so light of heart, they had passed along.

   • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter 17,^[4]

     How often have I seen him, intent upon a match at marbles or pegtop, looking on with a face of unutterable interest, and hardly breathing at the critical times!

   • 1964, Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel lecture, Oslo, Norway, 11 December, 1964, cited in Suzy Platt (ed.), Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service, Washington D.C.: Library of Congress, 1989,^[5]

     Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.

   Synonyms: inexpressible, ineffable, unspeakable; see also Thesaurus:indescribable

2. Extremely bad or objectionable; unspeakable.

Derived terms

• unutterableness
• unutterably

Translations

Anagrams

• enturbulate

English

Etymology

un- +? sayable

Adjective

unsayable (comparative more unsayable, superlative most unsayable)

1. (philosophy) Not capable of being said.
   • 1851, John Kitto, The Journal of sacred literature, Oxford University, page 296:

     Whatsoever has been said before me, even on any subject, surely it belongs thereto that it can be repeated by me in rehearsal, and hence it does not seem possible that in this sense it should be so fitly called unspeakable or unsayable.

   • 1938, G. E. Moore, Ethics, University of Chicago Press, page 215:

     Nonetheless, in some unsayable way, value sentences are about values and reflect the structure of values.

   • 2004, Daniel Fidel Ferrer, Philosophical Aphorisms: Critical Encounters with Heidegger and Nietzsche, page 97:

     The unsaid drives us to “speak;” but, in some ways, there are limitations on what we can say, because some part always remains unsaid — we must always attempt to say the unsayable.

2. (rare) Not allowed or not fit to be said.
   • 1971 June 6, Walter Kerr, "Lenny Lost His Cool . . . (review of Lenny, about comedian Lenny Bruce)," New York Times, page D3:

     His task: to say the unsayable. To say all the words we have normally suppressed and to say them and say them and say them.

   • 1991 June 3, John Skow, "Can Lawns Be Justified?," Time:

     In Oakland, Rachel Blau's lawn is green because it rained recently. But if there's no rain, "we let it go," she says, bravely adding the unsayable "I don't care how it looks."

   • 2007 March 17, "Talking points: Racism and the cult of knee-jerk outrage," The Week, iss. 605, page 20:

     He was sacked, rather, for, saying the unsayable: for telling the truth.

Usage notes

• (rare: not allowed or not fit to be said): The term unsayable is rarely used in everyday speech. The more common equivalent is unspeakable.

Synonyms

• (not capable of being said): inexpressible, unspeakable, unutterable, ineffable; See also Thesaurus:indescribable
• (not allowed or not fit to be said): taboo, unspeakable

Derived terms

• unsayably

References

• “unsayable” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “unsayable”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)