unsoundable

Cannot be plumbed

Unsoundable describes depths or mysteries that cannot be measured or fathomed.

The word draws on the nautical practice of sounding—dropping a weighted line to determine water depth.

An unsoundable ocean trench defies measurement; an unsoundable grief or mystery resists comprehension.

The unsoundable depths of her sorrow left us speechless.

The term appears more often in literary or philosophical contexts than in everyday speech.

depth

abyss

Immeasurably profound depth

seafloor · benthic · pelagic · submersible · soundings · fathomless · bottomless · oceanic · hydrothermal · sediment

immeasurable

infinite

Having no bounds

inestimable · measureless · unbounded · unquantifiable · indeterminable · fathomless · vast · endless · untold · innumerable

incomprehensible

inscrutable

Impossible to understand

arcane · cryptic · opaque · perplexing · impenetrable · ungraspable · unknowable · unintelligible · paradoxical · obscure

Opposites
depth measurability

unsoundablefathomable

Capable of being grasped

plumbable · measurable · shallow · finite · bounded

comprehensibility/knowability

unsoundablefathomable

Capable of being grasped

comprehensible · knowable · penetrable · understandable · graspable

Family

sound, soundly, sounding, sounded, resound, resounding, unsound, soundness, unfathomable

Familiarity
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Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Everyday, not technical · Rated G