unwinnable

U1N1W4I1N1N1A1B3L1E1

adjective

Unable to be won.

Similar
walking deadsoftlocksoftlocked
OriginEnglish winnable ← Middle English un- ← Old English un- →
UncommonScrabble 15
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Meanings

adjectiveunwinnable (not comparable)
  1. not comparableUnable to be won.

    This does mitigate the problem of the game playing itself, but it doesn't change the fact that at higher levels a lot of the games are either unwinnable or unloseable depending on the luck of "obey" or "disobey".

    2009 December 10, joye, “Obey the Game”, in Jay Is Games, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2025
    1 more example

    The “Zarfian Cruelty Scale” rates games as Merciful, Polite, Tough, Nasty, or Cruel. The scale describes how works of IF become unwinnable, especially how and when the interactor (here a player, and one trying to win) learns this.

    2007, Jeremy Douglass, Command Lines, page 88

    Synonyms: walking dead, softlock, softlocked

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveUnable to be won.

Similar
walking deadsoftlocksoftlocked
Also see
softlockwalking dead

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. Englishwinnable
  9. Englishunwinnable

From un- + winnable.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 一場無法取勝 /一场无法取胜
  • 一場無法取勝 /一场无法取胜 (yīchǎng wúfǎ qǔshèng)unable to be won
Danish umulig at vinde
  • umulig at vindeunable to be won
Finnish voittamaton
  • voittamatonunable to be won
German nicht zu gewinnen, nicht zu gewinnend
  • nicht zu gewinnenunable to be won
  • nicht zu gewinnendunable to be won
  • ungewinnbarunable to be won
Hungarian megnyerhetetlen
  • megnyerhetetlenunable to be won
Italian impossibile da vincere
  • impossibile da vincereunable to be won
Japanese 得られない
  • 得られない (erarenai)unable to be won
Russian заведомо проигрышную
  • заведомо проигрышную (zavedomo proigryšnuju)unable to be won
Spanish inganable
  • inganableunable to be won
Turkish kazanması imkânsız
  • kazanması imkânsızunable to be won
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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