inconceivable

English

Etymology

From in- +‎ conceivable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪn.kənˈsiː.və.bl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

inconceivable (comparative more inconceivable, superlative most inconceivable)

1. Unable to be conceived or imagined; unbelievable.

   Synonyms: unconceivable, unthinkable

   Antonym: conceivable

   • 2022 September 8, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     While the world altered dramatically during the course of her reign, the monarchy did too, though rather more imperceptibly: the walkabouts that increasingly characterised royal appearances, the pop concerts at Buckingham Palace, the throwing open of the royal palaces to visitors – even the paying of income tax, and royal podcasts – would have been inconceivable as innovations at the time Elizabeth came to the throne.

Derived terms

• inconceivability
• inconceivableness
• inconceivably

Translations

unable to be conceived, unbelievable

• Asturian: inconcebible
• Belarusian: непасці́жны (njepascížny), невыабража́льны (njevyabražálʹny)
• Bulgarian: неми́слим (bg) (nemíslim), невъобрази́м (bg) (nevăobrazím)
• Catalan: inconcebible
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不可思議 / 不可思议 (zh) (bùkěsīyì), 難以置信 / 难以置信 (zh) (nányǐzhìxìn)

• Czech: nepředstavitelný (cs)
• Dutch: onvoorstelbaar (nl), ongelofelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: neimagebla
• Finnish: käsittämätön (fi), uskomaton (fi)
• French: inconcevable (fr)
• Galician: inconcibible (gl), inconcibíbel (gl)
• Georgian: წარმოუდგენელი (c̣armoudgeneli), დაუჯერებელი (dauǯerebeli)
• German: unfassbar (de), unfasslich (de), unbegreiflich (de), unglaublich (de), nicht wahrnehmbar
• Greek: ακατανόητος (el) (akatanóitos)
• Hindi: अकल्पनीय (hi) (akalpanīya), कल्पनातीत (hi) (kalpanātīt)
• Hungarian: elképzelhetetlen (hu), felfoghatatlan (hu), elgondolhatatlan (hu), hihetetlen (hu)
• Italian: inconcepibile (it)
• Latin: incōgitābilis
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: utenkelig

  Nynorsk: utenkeleg, utenkjeleg

• Polish: niepojęty (pl), niewyobrażalny (pl)
• Portuguese: inconcebível (pt)
• Romanian: neconceptibil, neverosimil (ro), de neconceput, de neînțeles, de nepriceput
• Russian: непостижи́мый (ru) (nepostižímyj), немы́слимый (ru) (nemýslimyj), невообрази́мый (ru) (nevoobrazímyj)
• Spanish: inconcebible (es)
• Swedish: ofattbar (sv), obegriplig (sv)
• Tibetan: བསམ་ཡས (bsam yas)
• Ukrainian: незбагне́нний (nezbahnénnyj), неми́слимий (nemýslymyj), неуявле́нний (neujavlénnyj)