untold

untold — adjective

1. Existing or happening at such a huge scale or extreme degree that the human mind

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

Existing or happening at such a huge scale or extreme degree that the human mind cannot count, measure, or fully absorb it.

Example

The earthquake caused untold damage to the city's oldest roads and buildings.

collocation: untold damage

Liang's untold wealth allowed him to support every family in his hometown.

collocation: untold wealth

Common collocations
  • untold damage
  • untold wealth
  • untold suffering
  • untold misery
  • untold harm
  • untold potential
  • untold story
Synonyms
  • incalculable

    more formal; emphasizes the difficulty of calculation

  • immeasurable

    more poetic; suggests no standard of measurement

  • countless

    more everyday; simply means 'too many to count'

  • infinite

    more extreme; implies no limits at all

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

untold + [abstract noun]

[be] + untold (predicative)

Usage Note

Almost always used attributively (placed before a noun). Commonly pairs with abstract nouns such as damage, suffering, wealth, misery, harm, potential, and consequences.

Common Mistakes

There were untold books on the shelf.
There were countless books on the shelf.
Untold describes overwhelming scale or emotional weight, not things that are simply too many to count.
The untold consequences of the decision were clear to everyone.
The unforeseen consequences of the decision were clear to everyone.
Untold emphasizes extreme scale, not unpredictability.

2. Not made known or communicated to anyone else, typically because the person who

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

Not made known or communicated to anyone else, typically because the person who knows the information has chosen never to speak of it.

Example

The journalist discovered a collection of untold letters in the library basement.

collocation: untold letters

Brooke's grandmother kept untold memories of her youth inside an old oak chest.

Common collocations
  • untold letters
  • untold secrets
  • untold facts
  • untold details
  • untold accounts
  • untold stories
  • untold memories
Synonyms
  • undisclosed

    more formal; often used in legal or official contexts

  • unrevealed

    means the same; slightly less common

  • secret

    implies intentional concealment, not just silence

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

untold + [noun (story, secret, detail, letter, fact)]

Usage Note

Typically used attributively (before nouns such as story, secret, fact, detail, letter). This sense is less common than the 'immeasurable' sense in everyday speech but appears frequently in narrative and literary writing.

Common Mistakes

She kept her feelings untold.
She kept her feelings to herself.
Untold in this sense sounds unnatural as a predicate complement; it is much more natural before a noun (e.g., untold feelings).

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe something too large or too many to count or measure. Incalculable emphasizes the impossibility of calculation (e.g., incalculable damage), and is common in formal or technical contexts. Immeasurable stresses the lack of a scale to measure against (e.g., immeasurable joy), with a slightly more emotional or poetic tone. Countless is the most concrete and everyday option — it simply means 'too many to count' without the sense of overwhelming scale (e.g., countless stars). Infinite suggests no limits at all (e.g., infinite patience), which may be literal or figurative. Untold combines the sense of huge scale with emotional impact — it implies the amount is not just large but also hard for the mind to absorb fully. Compare: 'The floods caused incalculable harm to the crops' (formal register) vs. 'The old house held untold memories for the family' (emotional, narrative).

incalculableimmeasurable ↗countless ↗infinite ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • untold numbers of
  • untold amounts of
  • untold thousands of

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Formed in Old English from the prefix un- (meaning 'not') plus told, the past participle of tellan ('to tell, relate, count'). The original meaning was simply 'not counted' or 'not related.' The sense of something too vast to count emerged early in Middle English, while the meaning 'not revealed to others' developed later and has remained in use alongside the more common 'immeasurable' sense.