Unimaginable

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌʌnɪˈmædʒɪnəbəl/

Definitions

1. Beyond what the mind can conceive or picture, exceeding the limits of mental comprehension
2. Something that cannot be conceived, envisioned, or comprehended by human thought
3. A state or idea that lies beyond the range of human imagination or understanding

Etymology: "Unimaginable" is built from three familiar parts: the prefix "un-", meaning "not", the verb "imagine", and the suffix "-able", meaning "capable of being". Put together, it describes something that cannot be pictured or grasped in the mind at all. The stem "imagine" comes from Latin "imaginari", "to picture to oneself", which grew from "imago", meaning "image" or "likeness". The suffix arrived in English by a longer route: it descends from Latin "-bilis" and "-abilis", passed through Old French "-able", and entered Middle English in that form. English then made it productive, attaching it to native words and borrowings alike, which is why it now appears on verbs as different as "readable" and "unimaginable". The "un-" prefix is the older English element, inherited from Old English, where it already meant "not" and was used freely to negate adjectives. Joining it to "imaginable" produced a word whose sense is the exact reverse of the image-making idea hidden in its root.

Synonyms: inconceivable, unthinkable, inscrutable, beyond belief, extraordinary

Antonyms: imaginable, believable, ordinary, commonplace, predictable