意想不到

yìxiǎngbùdào

adjective HSK 6 #9,016

Meanings

Thoughts cannot reach it — completely beyond imagination.

Jiéguǒ chūhū yì xiǎng bù dào.

The result was completely unexpected.

Lǚtú zhōng fāshēng le hěn duō yì xiǎng bù dào de shì.

Many unexpected things happened during the trip.

Tā qǔdé le yì xiǎng bù dào de chénggōng.

He achieved unexpected success.

usage

意想不到 is more emphatic than 想不到. It's a four-character expression (closer to chengyu style) and sounds more literary.

意 yì

想 xiǎng

不 bù

到 dào