unthinkable

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   too unlikely, extreme, or shocking to be imagined or considered possible

   A journey to another star once seemed unthinkable.

2. 2
   adj

   so unacceptable or improper that it cannot reasonably be contemplated

   Abandoning the patients during the emergency was unthinkable to the medical team.

Formed from un- ("not") + think + -able ("capable of being"). Its literal sense is "not capable of being thought"; from that developed the stronger evaluative sense of something too shocking or improper even to consider.

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