unthinkability
State of impossible contemplation
Unthinkability is the quality of being impossible to contemplate or consider seriously.
The word often appears in discussions of catastrophic scenarios—nuclear war, genocide, or civilizational collapse—where the mind resists engagement: The unthinkability of mutual destruction was supposed to prevent it.
Something's unthinkability may reflect genuine impossibility or simply a failure of imagination.
Inability to be grasped mentally
- impossibilityState of being unachievable
- unfeasibilityCannot be done
- unattainabilityCondition beyond grasp
- impracticabilityImpossibility of execution
insurmountability · hopelessness · unworkability · undoability · impracticality · infeasibility · unachievability · inaccessibility
Inability to be grasped mentally
- unfathomabilityImpossibility of being understood
- incomprehensibilityBeing impossible to grasp
- inexplicabilityCannot be accounted for
- impenetrabilityResistance to penetration
unintelligibility · inscrutability · mysteriousness · enigma · bewilderment · bafflement · perplexity · paradox
Quality beyond verbal expression
- forbiddennessState of being disallowed
- prohibitionAuthoritative legal ban
- stigmaMark of dishonor
- transgressionViolation of law or code
heresy · blasphemy · sacrilege · anathema · profanity · obscenity · indecency · impropriety
Inability to be grasped mentally
- outrageousnessExtreme offensiveness or absurdity
- ghastlinessState of being horrifying
- dreadfulnessQuality of being terrible
- unspeakabilityQuality beyond verbal expression
monstrousness · heinousness · atrocity · abhorrence · repugnance · awfulness · scandalousness · disturbingness
inconceivability
Inability to be grasped mentally
- impossibilityState of being unachievable
- unfeasibilityCannot be done
- unattainabilityCondition beyond grasp
impracticability · insurmountability · hopelessness · unworkability · undoability · impracticality · infeasibility · unachievability · inaccessibility · unobtainability
inconceivability
Inability to be grasped mentally
- unfathomabilityImpossibility of being understood
- incomprehensibilityBeing impossible to grasp
- inexplicabilityCannot be accounted for
impenetrability · unintelligibility · inscrutability · mysteriousness · enigma · bewilderment · bafflement · perplexity · paradox · abstractness
unspeakability
Quality beyond verbal expression
- forbiddennessState of being disallowed
- prohibitionAuthoritative legal ban
- stigmaMark of dishonor
transgression · heresy · blasphemy · sacrilege · anathema · profanity · obscenity · indecency · impropriety · censorship
inconceivability
Inability to be grasped mentally
- outrageousnessExtreme offensiveness or absurdity
- ghastlinessState of being horrifying
- dreadfulnessQuality of being terrible
unspeakability · monstrousness · heinousness · atrocity · abhorrence · repugnance · awfulness · scandalousness · disturbingness · nightmarishness
unthinkabilityconceivability
Capacity to be imagined
imaginability · possibility · comprehensibility · graspability · fathomability
unthinkabilityplausibility
Seeming likely true
possibility · likelihood · probability · feasibility · credibility
unthinkabilityacceptability
State of being sufficient
permissibility · tolerability · palatability · normalcy · ordinariness
think, thinking, thinker, unthinking, rethink, unthinkable, overthink, rethinking, unthought