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ineffable
" I have a deep and ongoing love of Iceland, particular the landscape, and when writing 'Burial Rites,' I was constantly trying to see whether I could distill its extraordinary and ineffable qualities into a kind of poetry."
Hannah Kent

Meaning of "ineffable" in the English dictionary

DICTIONARY

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD INEFFABLE

From Latin ineffābilis unutterable, from in-1 + effābilis, from effārī to utter, from fārī to speak.
Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.

PRONUNCIATION OF INEFFABLE

ɪnˈɛfəbəl


GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF INEFFABLE

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Ineffable is an adjective.
The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES INEFFABLE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Ineffability

Ineffability is concerned with ideas that cannot or should not be expressed in spoken words, often being in the form of a taboo or incomprehensible term. This property is commonly associated with philosophy, aspects of existence, and similar concepts that are inherently "too great", complex, or abstract to be adequately communicated. In addition, illogical statements, principles, reasons, and arguments may be considered intrinsically ineffable along with impossibilities, contradictions, and paradoxes. Terminology describing the nature of experience cannot be properly conveyed in dualistic symbolic language; it is believed that this knowledge is only held by the individual from which it originates. Profanity and vulgarisms can easily and clearly be stated, but by those who believe they should not be said, they are considered ineffable. Thus, one method of describing something that is ineffable is by using apophasis, i.e. describing what it is not, rather than what it is.

Definition of ineffable in the English dictionary

The first definition of ineffable in the dictionary is too great or intense to be expressed in words; unutterable. Other definition of ineffable is too sacred to be uttered. Ineffable is also indescribable; indefinable.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH INEFFABLE

accessible · affable · affordable · applicable · available · bluffable · buffable · comfortable · compatible · effable · horrible · impossible · incredible · laughable · portable · quaffable · reefable · sniffable · surfable · unruffable

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE INEFFABLE

ineffability · ineffableness · ineffably · ineffaceability · ineffaceable · ineffaceably · ineffective · ineffectively · ineffectiveness · ineffectual · ineffectuality · ineffectually · ineffectualness · inefficacious · inefficaciously · inefficaciousness · inefficacity · inefficacy · inefficiency · inefficient

WORDS THAT END LIKE INEFFABLE

able · acceptable · adjustable · adorable · cable · capable · enable · expandable · fable · on the table · reasonable · reliable · saleable · stable · suitable · table · unable · unavailable · valuable · variable

Synonyms and antonyms of ineffable in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «INEFFABLE»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «ineffable» and belong to the same grammatical category.

Translation of «ineffable» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR

TRANSLATION OF INEFFABLE

Find out the translation of ineffable to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of ineffable from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «ineffable» in English.
zh

Translator English - Chinese

不可言喻
1,325 millions of speakers
es

Translator English - Spanish

inefable
570 millions of speakers
en

English

ineffable
510 millions of speakers
hi

Translator English - Hindi

अकहा
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

فائق الوصف
280 millions of speakers
ru

Translator English - Russian

невыразимое
278 millions of speakers
pt

Translator English - Portuguese

inefável
270 millions of speakers
bn

Translator English - Bengali

অনির্বচনীয়
260 millions of speakers
fr

Translator English - French

ineffable
220 millions of speakers
ms

Translator English - Malay

Tidak dapat dilupakan
190 millions of speakers
de

Translator English - German

unaussprechlich
180 millions of speakers
ja

Translator English - Japanese

言いようのない
130 millions of speakers
ko

Translator English - Korean

말로 표현할 수없는
85 millions of speakers
jv

Translator English - Javanese

Ineffable
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

không thể chỉ bảo được
80 millions of speakers
ta

Translator English - Tamil

வருணிக்கவியலாத
75 millions of speakers
mr

Translator English - Marathi

अटळ
75 millions of speakers
tr

Translator English - Turkish

tarifsiz
70 millions of speakers
it

Translator English - Italian

ineffabile
65 millions of speakers
pl

Translator English - Polish

niepojęty
50 millions of speakers
uk

Translator English - Ukrainian

невимовне
40 millions of speakers
ro

Translator English - Romanian

inefabil
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

άφατο
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

onuitsprekelijk
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

ineffable
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

uutsigelige
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of ineffable

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «INEFFABLE»

Principal search tendencies and common uses of ineffable
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «ineffable».

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about ineffable

EXAMPLES

5 QUOTES WITH «INEFFABLE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word ineffable.
1
Sri Aurobindo
She saw the myriad gods, and beyond God his own ineffable eternity; she saw that there were ranges of life beyond our present life, ranges of mind beyond our present mind and above these she saw the splendors of the spirit.
2
Anita Brookner
People say that I am always serious and depressing, but it seems to me that the English are never serious - they are flippant, complacent, ineffable, but never serious, which is sometimes maddening.
3
Alexis Carrel
Religion brings to man an inner strength, spiritual light, and ineffable peace.
4
Hannah Kent
I have a deep and ongoing love of Iceland, particular the landscape, and when writing 'Burial Rites,' I was constantly trying to see whether I could distill its extraordinary and ineffable qualities into a kind of poetry.
5
Lucy Larcom
From the first opening of our eyes, it is the light that attracts us. We clutch aimlessly with our baby fingers at the gossamer-motes in the sunbeam, and we die reaching out after an ineffable blending of earthly and heavenly beauty which we shall never fully comprehend.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «INEFFABLE»

Discover the use of ineffable in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to ineffable and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Music and the Ineffable
These are a point of departure for a sustained examination and dismantling of the idea of musical hermeneutics in its conventional sense.
Vladimir Jankélévitch, 2003
2
Voicing the Ineffable: Musical Representations of Religious ...
On the basis of various case studies that transcend a music-analytical approach in the direction of the hermeneutic perspective, this volume explores in which ways the musical language in itself, independently of an explicitly sacred ...
Siglind Bruhn, 2002
3
Language and the Ineffable: A Developmental Perspective and ...
In Language and the Ineffable, Berger develops an unconventional model of human development: ontogenesis.
Louis S. Berger, 2011
4
Le Corbusier: Béton Brut and Ineffable Space, 1940-1965 : ...
It is innovative in showing the role of materials and construction techniques in the architecture of Le Corbusier and the book also delves into the project management and the construction of several buildings in the period 1940 1965.
Roberto Gargiani, Le Corbusier, Anna Rosellini, 2011
5
Jacob's Ladder: Essays on Experiences of the Ineffable in ...
In this fascinating work, Josephine Klein considers mysticism - a world of ineffable experience - to see if it might have anything to teach those in the therapeutic world and invites the reader to look at newer ways of psychoanalytic ...
Josephine Klein, 2003
6
Constructing the Ineffable: Contemporary Sacred Architecture
This book is the first to examine this topic across continents and from the perspective of multiple faiths. It addresses how sacred buildings are viewed in the context of contemporary architecture and religious practice.
Karla Britton, 2010
7
Milton and the Ineffable
Situating Milton's poetics of ineffability in the context of the intellectual cross-currents of Renaissance humanism and Protestant theology, this text reassesses Milton's poetry in light of the literary and conceptual problems posed by the ...
Noam Reisner, 2009
8
God and the Imagination: On Poets, Poetry, and the Ineffable
Poet, critic, biographer, and Catholic intellectual Paul Mariani delivers huge armfuls of experience and knowledge in this wide-ranging collection of twenty-four essays.
Paul L. Mariani, 2002
9
Pearl, image of the ineffable: a study in medieval poetic ...
A new interpretation of the rich and highly complex medieval English poem Pearl is presented in this book.
Theodore Bogdanos, 1983
10
Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary ...
Documenting. the. Ineffable. Terror and Memory in Alain Resnais's Night and Fog Sandy Flitterman-Lewis If one does not forget, one can neither live nor function. The problem arose for me when I made Nuit et brouillard. It was not a question ...
Barry Keith Grant, Jeannette Sloniowski, 1998

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «INEFFABLE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term ineffable is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Chvrches: "Leave a Trace" | Tracks | Pitchfork
Those ineffable, imprecise gray areas can be the sites of revelation, which Mayberry seizes in a pitch that's all transcendent ASMR tingle: "I ... «Pitchfork Media, Jul 15»
2
Grant Morrison Explains Why Avatarex Is The Next Step Beyond His …
I wanted the idea of this ineffable cosmic power being tied to the most pointless, useless guy on earth and how the two of them then relate. «Comicbook.com, Jul 15»
3
Johann Sebastian Bach: Leading soloists on the mastery and …
Patiently, Ibragimova meets my clumsy efforts to pin down the ineffable appeal of the Bach solo repertoire with a succinct formulation. "For me ... «The Independent, Jul 15»
4
Forum: My hometown and the theater shooting verdict in Colorado
This seems imaginable to me, this ineffable torture the families of the loved ones endured. Today, a jury found the man responsible for the mass ... «New Haven Register, Jul 15»
5
The “third man” phenomena—proof of guardian angels or something …
Geiger has uncovered over 100 instances where those in duress have been accompanied by the “presence of some ineffable good”. «Patheos, Jul 15»
6
Godly Grifter Jim Bakker Says Iran Deal Means End Times, Please …
... Wendy's restaurant”. That this was, at one time, some sort of aspirational goal for anybody living, fills me with all manner of ineffable sadness. «Wonkette, Jul 15»
7
'Big Fish' makes big, emotional impact at CCT - Quad-Cities Online …
... and realistically relates the dizzying wonder of impending fatherhood in "Stranger," and the ineffable yearning to truly know and connect with ... «Quad-Cities Online, Jul 15»
8
Review: George Bowering's wistful look at the writing life
The book's cover picture — presented with a wink — underscores the difficulty involved in trying to nail down the ineffable. It's of a fish eating its ... «Vancouver Sun, Jul 15»
9
Oh hell yes, Ant-Man | Cult MTL
... towards beefcake status but does not shake the ineffable Ruddness we've all come to expect), it nevertheless fits in rather neatly with the rest ... «Cult MTL, Jul 15»
10
Critics Picks: Critics' Picks: July 17 - July 23, 2015 - Los Angeles Times
... or would they be doomed to eternal second-bananahood, relegated to supporting tacky villains who lacked their ineffable effervescence? «Los Angeles Times, Jul 15»
REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Ineffable [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/ineffable>. Jun 2024 ».
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