unthinkable

un- +‎ think +‎ -able

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈθɪŋkəbəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

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unthinkable (comparative more unthinkable, superlative most unthinkable)

1. Incapable of being believed; incredible.
2. Inconceivable or unimaginable; extremely improbable in a way that goes against common sense.

   Nothing is unthinkable, nothing impossible to the balanced person, provided it comes out of the needs of life and is dedicated to life's further development - Lewis Mumford

   • 2011 October 23, Tom Fordyce, “2011 Rugby World Cup final: New Zealand 8-7 France”, in BBC Sport‎:

     With 16 minutes left on the clock and the tension climbing through the roof, Trinh-Duc tried his luck with a penalty from just inside halfway only to push it wide, but the unthinkable now seemed a real possibility.

   • 2021 November 10, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Chayut Setboonsarng, “Thai court rules students' royal reform call sought to overthrow monarchy”, in Reuters‎, Reuters, retrieved 2021-11-10:

     The ruling also comes amid calls from an opposition party for a review of the royal insult law, which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

   • 2023 August 23, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Check out Britain's famous station hotels: St Pancras”, in RAIL, number 990, page 61:

     It reopened as St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London in the early part of this century, and it now seens unthinkable to demolish such a structure.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “unthinkable”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.