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Awful, as words of those silenced? (11)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

unspeakable

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'awful' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'words of those silenced?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'words' could be 'speak' (I have seen 'Utter words' mean 'speak' so perhaps 'words' could also mean 'speak') and 'speak' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'unable' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'as' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for unspeakable that I've seen before include "Is impossible pronunciation so" , "awful?" , "Was Marcel Marceau's act so" , "dreadful" , "Too bad for words" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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