unbelievable

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/ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩//bi-//bə-/

adjective

Not to be believed.

“His excuse seems rather unbelievable.”

Meanings

adjectiveunbelievable (comparative more unbelievable or (rare, nonstandard) unbelievabler, superlative most unbelievable or (rare, nonstandard) unbelievablest)

comparative more unbelievable · comparative nonstandard rare unbelievabler · superlative most unbelievable · nonstandard rare superlative unbelievablest

  1. literallyNot to be believed.

    ‘Come on, girls,’ said Steve, ‘be honest, we won.’ / ‘Yeah,’ said Raymond, ‘we let you off because you’re girls.’ / ‘You’re unbelievable,’ said Liz. / ‘Well, if we’re unbelievable,’ said Steve, ‘then you’re unbelievabler.’

    1996, Colin Thompson, “Four Pigeons”, in Venus the Caterpillar and Further Wild Stories, London: Hodder Children’s Books, →ISBN, page 24

    Synonyms: beyond belief, incredible, noncredible · Antonyms: believable, credible

  2. figurativelyAmazing, astonishing; so surprising that one is almost, or figuratively, unable to believe.

    This restaurant makes unbelievable pizza!

    4 more examples

    The most unbelievable thing happened to me today!

    Whether you want the unbelievablest sheer of chiffon . . . or the most durable of service weight . . . I’ve concluded, after a round of looking, that these stores give you a real money’s worth!

    1932 February 6, Virginia Chumley, “Visits with Virginia”, in The Chattanooga News, volume XLIV, number 189, Chattanooga, Tenn., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11, column 6

    In other words—join the gpo and hear the world; have fun; talk to the wildest, craziest, simply unbelievablest people.

    1967, New Society, volume 9, London, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 680, column 1

    The unbelievablest (to coin a word) thing about this animation is the fact that it is generated in real time, like a video game!

    2010 March 9, Emily Lakdawalla, “Unbelievably spectacular flight through Candor Chasma”, in The Planetary Society, Pasadena, Calif., archived from the original on 06 Aug 2020

    Synonyms: incredible

  3. Implausible or improbable.

    His excuse seems rather unbelievable.

    Synonyms: improbable, infeasible, unlikely · Antonyms: feasible, likely, plausible, probable

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveNot to be believed.

adjectiveAmazing, astonishing; so surprising that one is almost, or figuratively, unable to believe.

Similar

adjectiveImplausible or improbable.

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivehaving a probability too low to inspire belief

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

Afrikaans ongelooflik
  • ongelooflikincredible
Arabic لا يصدق
  • لا يصدقincredible
Basque sinestezin, sinestezin
  • sinestezinincredible
  • sinestezinimplausible
Bulgarian невероя́тен
  • невероя́тен (neverojáten)incredible
Catalan increïble, increïble
  • increïbleincredible
  • increïbleimplausible
Chinese Mandarin 不可思議 /不可思议, 難以置信 /难以置信
  • 不可思議 /不可思议 (bùkěsīyì)incredible
  • 難以置信 /难以置信 (nányǐzhìxìn)implausible
Czech neuvěřitelný
  • neuvěřitelnýincredible
Danish utrolig
  • utroligincredible
Dutch ongelofelijk, ongeloofwaardig
  • ongelofelijkincredible
  • ongeloofwaardigimplausible
Esperanto nekredebla, nekredebla
  • nekredeblaincredible
  • nekredeblaimplausible
Finnish uskomaton, epäuskottava
  • uskomatonincredible
  • epäuskottavaimplausible
French incroyable, incroyable
  • incroyableincredible
  • incroyableimplausible
German unglaublich, unglaubhaft
  • unglaublichincredible
  • unglaubhaftimplausible
  • unglaubwürdigimplausible
Greek απίστευτος
  • απίστευτος (apísteftos)incredible
Hebrew לֹא יֵאָמֵן, לֹא יְאֻמַּן כִּי יְסֻפַּר
  • לֹא יֵאָמֵן (lo yeamén)incredible
  • לֹא יְאֻמַּן כִּי יְסֻפַּר (lo y'ummán ki y'suppár)incredible
Hungarian hihetetlen, hihetetlen
  • hihetetlenincredible
  • hihetetlenimplausible
Icelandic ótrúlegur, ósennilegur
  • ótrúlegurincredible
  • ósennilegurimplausible
Irish dochreidte
  • dochreidteincredible
Italian incredibile
  • incredibileincredible
Japanese 信じられない
  • 信じられない (shinjirarenai)incredible
Latin incredibilis, incredibilis
  • incredibilisincredible
  • incredibilisimplausible
Norwegian Bokmål utrolig, usannsynlig
  • utroligincredible
  • usannsynligimplausible
Polish niewiarygodny, niebywały
  • niewiarygodnyincredible
  • niebywałyincredible
  • niewiarygodnyimplausible
Portuguese inacreditável, incrível
  • inacreditávelincredible
  • incrívelincredible
  • inacreditávelimplausible
Romanian incredibil, de necrezut
  • incredibilincredible
  • de necrezutincredible
Russian невероя́тный, неправдоподо́бный
  • невероя́тный (neverojátnyj)incredible
  • неправдоподо́бный (nepravdopodóbnyj)implausible
Spanish increíble
  • increíbleincredible
Swedish otrolig, osannolik
  • otroligincredible
  • osannolikimplausible
Turkish inanılmaz
  • inanılmazincredible
Ukrainian неймові́рний
  • неймові́рний (nejmovírnyj)incredible
Cite this entry
APA

unbelievable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unbelievable

MLA

“unbelievable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unbelievable. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unbelievable,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unbelievable.

Source: unbelievable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.