unthinkable

English

Etymology

un- +‎ thinkable

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʌnˈθɪŋkəbəl/

Adjective

unthinkable (not comparable)

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”, BBC Sport:

     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.

Translations

incapable of being believed; incredible

• Catalan: impensable (ca)
• Dutch: ondenkbaar (nl)
• French: incroyable (fr)
• German: unvorstellbar (de)
• Hungarian: hihetetlen (hu)

• Polish: niewiarygodne (pl)
• Romanian: neimaginabil (ro), de neimaginat (ro), incredibil (ro)
• Russian: немыслимый (ru) (nemýslimyj)
• Turkish: düşünülemez (tr)

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

• Catalan: impensable (ca)
• Finnish: käsittämätön (fi)
• French: inconcevable (fr), impensable (fr), inimaginable (fr)
• German: undenkbar (de), unvorstellbar (de)
• Hungarian: elképzelhetetlen (hu)

• Romanian: de neconceput (ro), neconcepibil (ro), inimaginabil (ro), neimaginabil (ro)
• Spanish: impensable (es)
• Turkish: düşünülemez (tr), kavranılamaz (tr)

References

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