Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Not equipped with or connected to a plumbing system.
  • adjective Not measured or sounded with a plumb.
  • adjective Not fully examined or explored.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not plumbed or measured by a plumb-line; unfathomed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not measured for depth, as if with a plumb.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective situated at or extending to great depth; too deep to have been sounded or plumbed

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Joyce intended something "unplumbed," as was much of the undulating Sunda (no "m") in 1904, during which Ulysses takes place, two years before soundings by the German vessel Planet.

    'Making the Wrong Joyce': An Exchange Rose, Danis 1998

  • Ranged side by side with the bold, defiant eyes of the girl before him, he saw Ruth's clear, luminous eyes, like a saint's, gazing at him out of unplumbed depths of purity.

    Chapter 6 2010

  • A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain-a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fi xed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and daemons of unplumbed space.

    Authors and others 2010

  • A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain-a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fi xed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and daemons of unplumbed space.

    A Different Stripe: 2009

  • A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain-a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fi xed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and daemons of unplumbed space.

    Weird birthday wishes to H.P. Lovecraft and a musical interlude 2009

  • By suggesting unplumbed depths while Willy is still navigating the shallows of careerism, Mr. Gosling sets up his character for a heroism that's fueled in equal measure by shrewd thinking and clear feeling.

    Smart, Patchy, Sweet 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' Joe Morgenstern 2011

  • Historical romances, science fiction, historical mysteries, fantasies ... lots and lots of deep, dark work with unplumbed depths and grisly murders and all that other good stuff.

    TBR Additions 2009

  • Marc Krigsman, chief executive of Cross MediaWorks, IndieShop's parent company, is betting that there is an unplumbed market here.

    Crafts, Clothes and Clout 2010

  • Peter, I think it's not perhaps that we don't much care for James Purnell; rather that we are disheartened that someone with such meagre character and unplumbed ability, has managed to attain a position of such importance.

    Tony Blair: The Next Labour Prime Minister? 2010

  • Thirty million years ago, when human ancestors were still hopping around in trees, screeching over a fruit, the whales were communicating over vast distances, calling each other by name, referring to a third whale by name these behaviors all well documented, and singing songs of unplumbed complexity.

    Kook Peter Heller 2010

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