unprintable

U1N1P3R1I1N1T1A1B3L1E1

adjective

Not printable; obscene, or unable to be displayed textually.

Opposite
UncommonScrabble 15

Meanings

adjectiveunprintable (not comparable)
  1. not comparableNot printable; obscene, or unable to be displayed textually.

    Once a neighbor complained that a Gilbreth had called the neighbor's boy a son of an unprintable word.

    1949, Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr.; Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen
    1 more example

    "There was poor old Wadley, of the Zoological Institute. Wadley sent a message: 'The President of the Zoological Institute presents his compliments to Professor Challenger, and would take it as a personal favor if he would do them the honor to come to their next meeting.' The answer was unprintable." "You don't say?" "Well, a bowdlerized version of it would run: 'Professor Challenger presents his compliments to the President of the Zoological Institute, and would take it as a personal favor if he would go to the devil.'"

    1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
noununprintable (plural unprintables)

plural unprintables

  1. Something that is not printable.

    LabVIEW will interpret one- or two-character codes following the backslash character, as shown in Table 2.1. You can also enter unprintables by simply typing them into the string.

    2019, Richard Jennings, LabVIEW Graphical Programming, Fifth Edition, page 91

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite

adjectiveunfit for print because morally or legally objectionable or offensive to good taste

Opposite

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Germanic*un-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*un-
  5. Old Englishun-
  6. Middle Englishun-
  7. Englishun-
  8. Englishprint
  9. Englishprintable
  10. Englishunprintable

From un- + printable.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish painokelvoton
  • painokelvotonnot printable
French inimprimable
  • inimprimablenot printable
Hungarian nem nyomtatható, nyomdafestéket nem tűrő
  • nem nyomtathatónot printable
  • nyomdafestéket nem tűrőnot printable
Norwegian uprentelig
  • uprentelignot printable
Polish niedrukowalny
  • niedrukowalnynot printable
Scottish Gaelic do-chlò-bhualaidh
  • do-chlò-bhualaidhnot printable
Cite this entry
APA

unprintable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unprintable

MLA

“unprintable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unprintable. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unprintable,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unprintable.

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