How to Use untranslatable in a Sentence

untranslatable

adjective
  • The other word that keeps coming up is licoroso, one of those famously untranslatable Portuguese words.
    — Ann Abel, Forbes, 5 Jan. 2022
  • In this context, the language of truth is not simply untranslatable but illegible in the original.
    — Justin Taylor, Harper's Magazine, 16 Mar. 2021
  • The pain that connects Rama and Laurence is like a secret language, an untranslatable grammar of alienation and loss.
    — A.o. Scott, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2023
  • The pain that connects Rama and Laurence is like a secret language, an untranslatable grammar of alienation and loss.
    — Mark Olsenstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2023
  • The Danish have hygge, that untranslatable feeling of coziness, but the Japanese have monozukuri.
    — Hannah Lott-Schwartz, Fortune, 16 June 2019
  • Though the hair and makeup at Fashion Week often feel untranslatable to the real world, these looks felt extremely approachable.
    — Kathleen Hou, The Cut, 10 Sep. 2017
  • There is widespread obsession with untranslatable words, as countless listicle-makers can attest.
    — Katy Steinmetz, Time, 8 May 2018
  • German’s sehnsucht, Portuguese’s saudade—that are generally held to be untranslatable.
    — Michael Chabon, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2017
  • This is the season when hygge (an untranslatable word that refers to coziness or warmth) kicks into high gear in Denmark, and its capital is filled with the soft yellow glow of candles.
    — Tamara Shopsin, Travel + Leisure, 16 Dec. 2025
  • Maybe the really good stuff is built differently—and is irreconcilably untranslatable.
    — Max G. Levy, Wired, 24 May 2021
  • Coord then took all of these esoteric street rules and untranslatable parking signs and distilled into information that could be easily digested in a searchable map.
    — Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 19 Mar. 2018
  • Corrales’ colleague Danilo Chacón referred to the specimen as a bicho grande, using an untranslatable term that falls somewhere between critter and beast.
    — Myles Karp, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2020
  • Sure, the fanatic’s zeal is almost untranslatable for those outside of his or her belief system; what is obvious and logical to the true believer sounds deranged or offensive or dangerous to the one on the outside.
    — Longreads, 8 May 2018
  • Memoirs, manifestos, and aesthetic histories offer insights into what can otherwise be unspoken and untranslatable, including the mystery involved in the making of a piece.
    — Farah Abdessamad, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2023
  • In other words, Crews-Chubb’s rough and tumble compositions are not about Assyrian kings, monkey deities, African freedom fighters, untranslatable codices or belfies.
    — David Pagel, latimes.com, 14 Apr. 2018
  • Writing in English, Spanish and Nahuatl, Vértiz honors and relishes the feeling of being untranslatable.
    — Rosa Boshier, Washington Post, 17 June 2019
  • Family members have a special untranslatable language of subtle gestures, finger play, winks and nods, little insults, odd allusions and needling words, that are devastating within the family yet meaningless to outsiders.
    — Paul Theroux, Harper’s Magazine , 17 Aug. 2022
  • One of the most exciting uses of AI has to be helping historians and archaeologists decipher previously indecipherable or untranslatable ancient texts.
    — Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 23 June 2026
  • Produced in association with the city's biggest Maracatu troupe, Azougue Nazare — the tricky title's first word is a near-untranslatable Portuguese term evoking the mercurial liveliness of quicksilver — makes no pretense at unbiased objectivity.
    — Neil Young, The Hollywood Reporter, 29 Jan. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'untranslatable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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