Standard Lemma guide

unpredictable

adj · noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH2 N P R IH0 D IH1 K T AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Unable to be predicted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nonpredictable, vagabond

Antonyms: predictable

Narrower terms: temperamental

2

noun

Meaning 2

An unpredictable thing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

not capable of being foretold

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: predictable

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

not occurring at expected times

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: irregular

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

unknown in advance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • an unpredictable (or indeterminable) future

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Germanic *un- Proto-West Germanic *un- Old English un- Middle English un- English un- English predict Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dhlom Proto-Indo-European *-dhlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English predictable English unpredictable From un- + predictable.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: անկանխատեսելի (ankanxateseli) — unable to be predicted
  • Belarusian: непрадказа́льны (njepradkazálʹny) — unable to be predicted
  • Bulgarian: непредсказу́ем (nepredskazúem) — unable to be predicted
  • Catalan: imprevisible — unable to be predicted
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不可預知的 /不可预知的 (bùkě yùzhī de) — unable to be predicted
  • Czech: nepředvídatelný — unable to be predicted
  • Danish: uforudsigelig — unable to be predicted
  • Dutch: onvoorspelbaar — unable to be predicted
  • Finnish: ennalta-arvaamaton — unable to be predicted
  • Finnish: ennustamaton — unable to be predicted
  • Finnish: odottamaton — unable to be predicted
  • French: imprévisible — unable to be predicted
  • German: unvorhersagbar — unable to be predicted
  • Hebrew: בלתי צפוי (bílti tsafúy) — unable to be predicted
  • Hungarian: kiszámíthatatlan — unable to be predicted
  • Icelandic: óútreiknanlegur — unable to be predicted
  • Icelandic: ófyrirsjáanlegur — unable to be predicted
  • Italian: imprevedibile — unable to be predicted
  • Japanese: 予測できない (yosoku dekinai) — unable to be predicted
  • Japanese: 先が見えない (saki ga mienai) — unable to be predicted
  • Korean: 예측할 수 없다 (yecheukhal su eopda) — unable to be predicted
  • Macedonian: непредвидлив (nepredvidliv) — unable to be predicted
  • Māori: matawhawhati — unable to be predicted
  • Māori: kumukumu — unable to be predicted
  • Norwegian Bokmål: uforutsigbar — unable to be predicted
  • Persian: غیر قابل پیشبینی (ġeyr-e qâbel-e piš-bini) — unable to be predicted
  • Polish: nieprzewidywalny — unable to be predicted
  • Portuguese: imprevisível — unable to be predicted
  • Romanian: neprevizibil — unable to be predicted
  • Romanian: impredictibil — unable to be predicted
  • Romanian: imprevizibil — unable to be predicted
  • Russian: непредсказу́емый (nepredskazújemyj) — unable to be predicted
  • Serbo-Croatian: непредвѝдљив — unable to be predicted
  • Serbo-Croatian: nepredvìdljiv — unable to be predicted
  • Slovak: nepredvídateľný — unable to be predicted
  • Slovene: nepredvidljiv — unable to be predicted
  • Spanish: impredecible — unable to be predicted
  • Swedish: oförutsägbar — unable to be predicted
  • Ukrainian: непередба́чуваний (neperedbáčuvanyj) — unable to be predicted
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不可預知的事情 — unpredictable thing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 不可预知的事情 (bù kě yùzhī de shìqíng) — unpredictable thing
  • Finnish: yllätys — unpredictable thing
  • French: imprévisible — unpredictable thing
  • German: Unvorhersehbares — unpredictable thing
  • Hebrew: בלתי צפוי (bílti tsafúy) — unpredictable thing
  • Italian: imprevisto — unpredictable thing
  • Japanese: 一寸先は闇 (issunsaki ha yami) — unpredictable thing
Real reading context

unpredictable in complete knowledge articles