ˌən-ˈpärd-nə-bəl
as in unacceptable
too bad to be excused or justified
regards cruelty to animals as an unpardonable sin
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Recent Examples of unpardonable
If Sam is wrong, his journalistic sin is unpardonable.
—
Neal B. Freeman, National Review, 13 May 2025
Attacking innocent citizens, in this case tourists, is utterly appalling and unpardonable.
—Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Apr. 2025
Alone in George’s office, Roger commits the unpardonable offense of reading his notebook.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
Trump’s explicit threats against the Bidens, and his record of trying to politicize the Justice Department and FBI, almost justify an unpardonable pardon, columnist Jackie Calmes writes.
—Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
In her small and deeply Catholic community, suicide is an unpardonable sin, so a horrible crime lures her with the promise of escape.
—Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2024
As her recent award accolades attest, Zine was a force of nature from first take to last, the conduit through which the viewer experiences the dread, horror, anguish and grief of witnessing her father murdered for the unpardonable sin of speaking his truth.
—Alexander Woo, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2024
Insulting you for complimenting him was unpardonable.
—Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin, oregonlive, 9 Aug. 2023
On their return one, with almost unpardonable stupidity, brought the young woman some sort of information as to the probable fate of her brother.
—K.j. Yossman, Variety, 27 June 2023
Neal B. Freeman, National Review, 13 May 2025
Attacking innocent citizens, in this case tourists, is utterly appalling and unpardonable.
—Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Apr. 2025
Alone in George’s office, Roger commits the unpardonable offense of reading his notebook.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
Trump’s explicit threats against the Bidens, and his record of trying to politicize the Justice Department and FBI, almost justify an unpardonable pardon, columnist Jackie Calmes writes.
—Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
In her small and deeply Catholic community, suicide is an unpardonable sin, so a horrible crime lures her with the promise of escape.
—Taylor Antrim, Vogue, 29 Sep. 2024
As her recent award accolades attest, Zine was a force of nature from first take to last, the conduit through which the viewer experiences the dread, horror, anguish and grief of witnessing her father murdered for the unpardonable sin of speaking his truth.
—Alexander Woo, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2024
Insulting you for complimenting him was unpardonable.
—Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin, oregonlive, 9 Aug. 2023
On their return one, with almost unpardonable stupidity, brought the young woman some sort of information as to the probable fate of her brother.
—K.j. Yossman, Variety, 27 June 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unpardonable
Adjective
-
And sometimes the soldiers can do things which are totally unacceptable and can be called crimes.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
6 June 2025
-
Tools that pose an unacceptable threat to rights or safety are banned outright.—
Dan Fitzpatrick,
Forbes.com,
5 June 2025
Adjective
-
The inability to stop shipping goals from set pieces was unforgivable as was the failure to stop the predictable early first goal at Brentford and the subsequent flood that followed.—
The Athletic UK Staff,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
-
Violence against a fertility clinic is unforgivable.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 May 2025
Adjective
-
Playoff droughts like the one the team went through over the previous four seasons have gone from the norm to inexcusable.—
Sahadev Sharma,
New York Times,
30 May 2025
-
Leaving an unpadded metal roller on the edge of the field is inexcusable.—
Noah Camras,
MSNBC Newsweek,
22 May 2025
Adjective
-
And without consumers, infrastructure investment remains commercially unjustifiable.—
Robert Rapier,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2025
-
That this reaction was unjustifiable, greater in force than any force exerted by my father, only exacerbated my state.—
Jonathon Sturgeon,
Harpers Magazine,
29 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Like Chelsea and City, PSG have been successful (dominant, in fact) domestically, teams stuffed with outrageous talent, led by some of the great coaches of the era, filling their trophy cabinets accordingly.—
Nick Miller,
New York Times,
28 May 2025
-
Whatever your feelings about Tarantino, give the Oscar winner this: His genre subversions and outrageous digressions are far livelier and more inspired than anything Ritchie concocts here.—
Will Leitch,
Vulture,
27 May 2025
Adjective
-
That someone would appropriate her best friend’s saga of wartime survival is clearly indefensible.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
20 May 2025
-
And accepting bureaucratic inertia is also indefensible.—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 May 2025
Adjective
-
Conservatives and Republicans in Congress continue to claim that the cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits is an insupportable burden on America, so benefits need to be cut, though President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to preserve entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Jan. 2025
-
There are people of goodwill who think the way out of this insupportable situation lies in the fight for equal democratic rights in a single state for everyone living in the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.—
Michelle Goldberg,
The Mercury News,
14 Mar. 2024
Adjective
-
There are other objects of worship from the days when Japan’s Christians had to hide from vicious persecution, including a ceramic bottle of holy water from Nakaenoshima, an island where Hidden Christians were martyred in the 1620s.—
Foster Klug,
Los Angeles Times,
4 June 2025
-
Years before the Kendrick Lamar and Drake imbroglio, Pusha T shared his own vicious diss track against the Canadian hip-hop superstar.—
Matthew Strauss,
Pitchfork,
3 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Unpardonable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unpardonable. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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