Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Unbelievable |
UnbelievableAdjective1. Beyond belief or understanding; "at incredible speed"; "the book's plot is simply incredible". 2. Having a probability to low to inspire belief. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "unbelievable" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1859. (references) |
Synonyms: UnbelievableSynonyms: improbable (adj), incredible (adj), unconvincing (adj), unlikely (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonym: credible (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Unbelief Doubt | Doubtful; (uncertain); disputable; unworthy of, undeserving of belief; questionable; suspect, suspicious; open to suspicion, open to doubt; staggering, hard to believe, incredible, unbelievable, not to be believed, inconceivable; impossible. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Unbelievable |
| English words defined with "unbelievable": unbelievably. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "unbelievable": berberder. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Derek that was unbelievable! (Zoolander; writing credit: Drake Sather; Ben Stiller) It's unbelievable. It's horrible (Cannibal Holocaust; writing credit: Gianfranco Clerici) It was unbelievable! (Batman Beyond; writing credit: Hilary Bader; Stan Berkowitz) Truth has a better sound to it. Plus the nasal, you know? What you did to me was unbelievable Connor (Angel; writing credit: Letícia Dornelles) You are truly unbelievable. (Now and Again; writing credit: Michael Angeli) | |
Lyrics | You've got the most unbelievable blue eyes I've ever seen (I Love You Always Forever; performing artist: Donna Lewis) So unbelievable (This Very Moment; performing artist: K-Ci & JoJo) And when you're up on the stage, it's so unbelievable, (Take The Long Way Home; performing artist: Supertramp) IT MIGHT BE UNBELIEVABLE (DON'T GET ME WRONG; performing artist: The Pretenders) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Varan the Unbelievable (1962) Unbelievable! America's Wildest Kids! (1998) More Unbelievable Orgies (1991) Unbelievable Orgies (1987) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Unbelievable. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Jet ski" by Stevan Sheets Commentary: "My friend, Wes on an unbelievable day of jetski and tubing." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Desiderius Erasmus | They take unbelievable pleasure in the hideous blast of the hunting horn and baying of the hounds. Dogs dung smells sweet as cinnamon to them. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Jack Hanna | Never again will I do it. It was like a bullet going between my legs. Of course I held you know what so nothing would happen. I'll tell you that. It's unbelievable. |
Joe Esposito | Unbelievable. I mean, this was all new to me, too, because I never saw the big crowds like this. It was just like you see it on television. People were screaming and yelling, passing out, fainting. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | Too many Americans feel powerless against the influence of private lobbying groups and the unbelievable flood of private campaign money which threatens our electoral process. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Unbelievable" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 91.74% of the time. "Unbelievable" is used about 544 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 91.74% | 499 | 12,058 |
| Noun (proper) | 8.07% | 44 | 51,500 |
| Noun (common) | 0.18% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 544 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "unbelievable": incredible vs credible unbelievable. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "unbelievable"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | i pabesueshëm (anecdotic, fabulous, inconceivable, incredible, unreal). (various references) | |
Arabic | لا يصدق (discredit, inconceivable, incredible, unthinkable), غير معقول (out of the question, paradoxical, pointless, preposterous, unconscionable, unimaginable, unreasonable). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | невероятно (unlikely), невероятен (anecdotal, fabulous, far fetched, improbable, incredible, marvellous, marvelous, tall, unlikely, unthinkable). (various references) | |
Chinese | 难以相信. (various references) | |
Czech | neuvìřitelný (astonishing, improbable, incredible, past belief, startling, stupendous), fantastický (dishy, fabulous, fantastic, fantastical, gorgeous, great, incredible, like a dream, magic, out of this world, smashing, sublime, terrific). (various references) | |
Farsi | غیرقابل باور, باورنکردنی (Inconceivable, Incredible). (various references) | |
Finnish | uskomaton (incredible). (various references) | |
French | incroyable (unreal). (various references) | |
German | unglaublich (elusive, elusively, flabbergasting, incredible, incredibly, indescribable, indescribably, outrageous, phenomenal, unbelievably, what a revelation), unglaubwürdig (dubious, implausible, unlikely, unreliable). (various references) | |
Greek | απίστευτοσ (incredible), απίστευτος (incredible, incredulous, staggering). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לא יאומן. (various references) | |
Hungarian | hihetetlen (beyond belief, impossible, inconceivable, incredible, marvellous, marvelous, unlikely, wondrous). (various references) | |
Indonesian | luar biasa (colossal, exceptional, extraordinary, formidable, immensely, incredible, phenomenal, preternatural, remarkable), bukan main (absurdly, excruciatingly, stunning). (various references) | |
Italian | incredibile (incredible). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 途轍も無い (absurd, extravagant, preposterous, unreasonable), 途轍もない (absurd, extravagant, preposterous, unreasonable), 有り得ない程 , アンド回路 (ambassador, amber, ambiance, ambivalence, ambulance, amp, amphetamine, amplifier, ampoule, AND circuit, boredom, enfants terribles, impromptu, umber, umbrella cut, umpire, unbalance, unfair, unhappy, unparser, unplayable). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ありえないほど, アンビリ , とてつもない (absurd, extravagant, preposterous, unreasonable). (various references) | |
Korean | 믿을 수 없는 (incredible, treacherous). (various references) | |
Manx | neuchredjallagh (impossible, incredible), do-chredit. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | elievableunbay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | incrível (incredible, terrific, wondrous), inacreditável, espantoso (appaling, appalling, astonishing, astounding, colossal, dreadful, fearsome, frightful, phenomenal, surprising, terrible, terrific, wonderful, wondrous). (various references) | |
Romanian | nemaipomenit (abject, bright, bully, egregious, lovely, lumme, magnificent, nut, priceless, sad, tremendous, unheard of, unparalleled, unprecedented), de necrezut (fabulous, inconceivable, incredible, marvellous, tall, unimaginable). (various references) | |
Russian | невероятный (anecdotic, fabulous, implausible, impossible, improbable, inconceivable, incredible, mind-blowing, mind-boggling, prodigious, undreamt of). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | neverovatno (incredibly, unbelievably, unlikely), neverovatan (implausible, improbable, incredible, unbelieving, unlikely). (various references) | |
Spanish | increible, increíble (beyond belief, extraordinary, implausible, incredible, mind-bending, steep, unreal). (various references) | |
Swedish | otroliga, otrolig (far fetched, fishy, improbable, incredible, tall, uncanny, unlikely). (various references) | |
Turkish | inanılmaz (beyond belief, fabulous, fantastic, fantastical, implausible, inconceivable, incredible, steep, stiff, unheard of, unreliable), akıl almaz (imagination boggles at the thought, incomprehensible, inconceivable, incredible, numinous, preposterous, unreasonable, unreasoning). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | неймовірний (anecdotic, anecdotical, colossal, implausible, impossible, improbable, unimaginable). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | không thể tin được (steep). (various references) | |
Welsh | anghredadwy (incredible, inficel). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | incredibilis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Unbelievable" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: unbeilevable, unbeleivable, unbeliavable, unbeliebable, unbelieveable, unbelivable, unbielevable, unbleievable. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "unbelievable" (pronounced u'nbulē"vubul) |
| 9 | -b u l ē" v u b u l | believable. |
| 6 | -ē" v u b u l | achievable, conceivable, inconceivable, receivable. |
| 5 | -v u b u l | approvable, drivable, forgivable, immovable, solvable, survivable, livable, lovable, microwavable, movable, observable, provable, removable, unforgivable, unlivable, unsolvable. |
| 4 | -u b u l | incurable, indefatigable, indefensible, indefinable, indelible, indescribable, indestructible, indispensable, indisputable, indistinguishable, indivisible, indomitable, inedible, ineffable, ineligible, inequitable, inescapable, inevitable, inexcusable, inexhaustible, inexorable, inexplicable, infallible, infeasible, inflammable, inflatable, acceptable, accessible, abominable, accountable, actionable, adaptable, addressable, adjustable, admirable, admissible, adoptable, adorable, advisable, affable, affordable, agreeable, allowable, amenable, amendable, amiable, amicable, analyzable, answerable, appealable, applicable, appreciable, approachable, arable, arguable, attainable, attributable, audible, available, avoidable, bankable, bearable, billable, biodegradable, breakable, buildable, burnable, callable, cannibal, capable, changeable, chargeable, charitable, classifiable, collapsible, collectible, Combinable, comfortable, commendable, communicable, comparable, compatible, compensable, comprehensible, confirmable, considerable, constable, consumable, contemptible, contestable, controllable, convertible, copyrightable, countable, credible, creditable, crucible, culpable, curable, debatable, deductible, defensible, definable, degradable, delectable, deliverable, demonstrable, dependable, deplorable, deployable, depreciable, describable, desirable, despicable, detachable, detectable, determinable, developable, digestible, disagreeable, discernible, discountable, discoverable, dishonorable, dispensable, disposable, disreputable, distinguishable, divisible, doable, drinkable, durable, eatable, edible, electable, eligible, Embraceable, employable, enforceable, enjoyable, enviable, equable, equitable, erasable, erodible, estimable, exchangeable, excitable, excludable, excusable, execrable, exercisable, expandable, expendable, explainable, exportable, extendable, extendible, fallible, fashionable, fathomable, favorable, feasible, fissionable, fixable, flammable, flexible, forcible, foreseeable, forfeitable, forgettable, formidable, fungible, fusible, gullible, habitable, harvestable, heritable, hon, honorable, horrible, hospitable, identifiable, illegible, imaginable, imitable, immiscible, immutable, impassable, impeachable, impeccable, impenetrable, imperceptible, impermissible, implacable, implantable, implausible, imponderable, impossible, impracticable, impregnable, impressionable, improbable, inaccessible, inadmissible, inadvisable, inalienable, inapplicable, inaudible, incalculable, incapable, incomparable, incompatible, incomprehensible, incompressible, incontrovertible, incorrigible, incredible, soluble, spendable, submersible, suggestible, suitable, supportable, susceptible, sustainable, syllable, talkable, tangible, taxable, teachable, tenable, terrible, inflexible, inheritable, inhospitable, inimitable, injectable, innumerable, inoperable, insatiable, inscrutable, inseparable, insoluble, insufferable, insupportable, insurmountable, intangible, intelligible, interchangeable, interminable, interruptible, intolerable, intractable, invaluable, investable, invincible, inviolable, invisible, invulnerable, irascible, irreconcilable, irrefutable, irremediable, irreparable, irreplaceable, irrepressible, irresistible, irresponsible, irreversible, irrevocable, irritable, issuable, justifiable, knowledgeable, lamentable, laudable, laughable, leasable, legible, liable, likable, likeable, malleable, manageable, mandible, maneuverable, marketable, measurable, memorable, miscible, miserable, moldable, navigable, negligible, negotiable, noncallable, nonconvertible, nondeductible, nondurable, nonrefundable, nonrenewable, nontaxable, nontransferable, notable, noticeable, objectionable, obtainable, operable, ostensible, palatable, palpable, parable, passable, patentable, payable, peaceable, perceptible, perishable, permeable, permissible, personable, persuadable, pitiable, plausible, pleasurable, pliable, portable, possible, potable, practicable, predictable, preferable, presentable, preventable, printable, probable, profitable, programmable, prosecutable, punishable, questionable, quotable, reachable, readable, realizable, reasonable, rechargeable, recognizable, recordable, recoverable, recyclable, redeemable, redoubtable, reducible, refundable, regrettable, reliable, remarkable, renewable, rentable, repairable, repayable, repeatable, replaceable, reportable, reprehensible, reputable, resealable, resettable, respectable, responsible, retractable, returnable, reusable, reversible, revocable, ridable, salable, saleable, salvageable, seasonable, sensible, serviceable, sizable, sizeable, sociable, tolerable, traceable, tractable, tradable, tradeable, trainable, transferable, transferrable, transmittable, transportable, treatable, tunable, typeable, unacceptable, unaccountable, unaffordable, unalienable, unalterable, unanswerable, unassailable, unattainable, unavailable, unavoidable, unbearable, unbeatable, unbuildable, uncollectible, uncomfortable, unconscionable, uncontrollable, undeniable, understandable, undesirable, undetectable, unelectable, unemployable, unenforceable, unenviable, unexplainable, unfashionable, unfathomable, unfavorable, unfeasible, unflappable, unforeseeable, unforgettable, ungovernable, unimaginable, unimpeachable, uninhabitable, uninsurable, unintelligible, unjustifiable, unknowable, unmanageable, unmentionable, unmistakable, unobtainable, unpalatable, unpredictable, unprintable, unprofitable, unquestionable, unreachable, unreadable, unreasonable, unrecognizable, unreliable, unremarkable, unsalable, unshakable, unsinkable, unspeakable, unstoppable, unsuitable, unsupportable, unsustainable, untenable, unthinkable, untouchable, untraceable, unusable, unverifiable, unwinnable, unworkable, usable, variable, vegetable, venerable, verifiable, veritable, viable, visible, voluble, vulnerable, washable, wearable, winnable, workable. |
| 3 | -b u l | able, amble, assemble, babble, Babel, bauble, bible, bramble, bubble, Bumble, cable, cobble, coble, corbel, crumble, cymbal, dabble, Dibble, disable, disassemble, dissemble, double, Drabble, dribble, enable, enfeeble, ennoble, ensemble, fable, feeble, foible, fumble, gable, gamble, Garble, global, gobble, Gribble, grumble, hardscrabble, herbal, hobble, humble, ignoble, immeasurable, immobile, squabble, Stabile, stable, stubble, stumble, symbol, table, intertribal, jumble, kibble, label, libel, marble, mislabel, mobile, mumble, nibble, nimble, noble, nonverbal, pebble, preamble, psychobabble, quibble, rabble, ramble, reassemble, rebel, redouble, relabel, resemble, Roble, rouble, roundtable, rubble, Ruble, rumble, sable, Scrabble, scramble, scribble, shamble, Sibyl, thimble, timetable, treble, tremble, tribal, trouble, tubal, tumble, turntable, umbel, unable, unscramble, unserviceable, unstable, valuable, verbal, wamble, wobble. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-b-e-e-e-i-l-l-n-u-v" | |
-2 letters: believable. | |
-3 letters: unlivable. | |
-4 letters: blueline, bubaline, enviable, leviable, lienable, lineable, liveable, unviable. | |
-5 letters: alienee, beeline, believe, eluvial, levulin, libelee, linable, livable, nebulae, unlevel, veinule. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Spoken 11. Quotations: Speeches 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
