inscrutable en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
- /ˌɪnˈskɹuːtəbl̩/
Etymology
Borrowed into late Middle English from Late Latin īnscrūtābilis, from in- (“not”) + scrūtō (“to examine”), corresponding to in- + scrutable
Meanings
-
Difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom, or interpret.
It was unconscious, this smile was, though just after he had said something it got intensified for an instant. It came at the end of his speeches like a seal applied on the words to make the meaning of the commonest phrase appear absolutely inscrutable.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 211, column 1:She called my vanity license plate inscrutable! 'ICU81MI'? Hilarious!
2007 October 11, Robert Carlock, “Jack Gets in the Game”, in 30 Rock, season 2, episode 2, spoken by Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan):The pale, inscrutable determinateness, and flinchless intrepidity of Pierre, now began to domineer upon them; for any social unusualness or greatness is sometimes most impressive in the retrospect.
1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XXIV. Lucy at the Apostles’.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section IV, page 445:The writer Juan Rulfo, whose 1955 novel, “Pedro Páramo,” still stands as the central monument of modern Mexican literature, grew up in Jalisco and vividly depicted its arid, sun-blasted landscapes in his writing, while the architect Luis Barragán, who moved from Guadalajara to Mexico City in the 1930s, carried with him an appreciation for his home state’s cloisters, haciendas and humble country buildings, which he translated in his own work as austere, inscrutable volumes of stucco.
2023 November 17, Michael Snyder, “A Guide to Guadalajara, Mexico’s City of Makers”, in The New York Times Style Magazine, archived from the original on 17 Nov 2023:His inscrutable theories would years later become the foundation of a whole new science.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most inscrutable | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more inscrutable | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
inscrutability · inscrutableness · inscrutably
Relateds
Synonyms
ineffable · nonunderstandable · unknowable · mysterious · insensible · inapprehensible · undecipherable · bottomless · ununderstandable · obscure · inscrutable · unexplainable · dense · incomprehensible · Chinese · impenetrable · inexplicable · insolvable · incognizable · retruse · enigmatic · unfathomable · abstruse · insoluble · ungraspable · undiscoverable · tenebrose · inenubilable · unintelligible · thick · fathomless · Greek
Translations (55)
ro neanchetabil (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · hi गूढ़ (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · de undurchschaubar (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · es incomprensible (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ru непоня́тный (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · tr esrârengiz (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · hi दुरधिगम (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · nb uutgrunnelig (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ca insondable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · da gådefuld (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · hu kifürkészhetetlen (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ca inescrutable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · fr insondable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ar مُبْهَم (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · tr gizemli (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ar غامِض (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · tr esrarlı (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ar مُسْتَغْلِق (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · da uforståelig (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · fr impénétrable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · fr incompréhensible (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · da ubegribelig (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · gv neuronsoilagh (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · es impenetrable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · da uransagelig (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · it insondabile (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ro necercetabil (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · hi दुर्बोध (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ro neexaminabil (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · da ufattelig (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ru необъясни́мый (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · nl ondoorgrondelijk (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · bg неразгадаем (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · hi दुरत्यय (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · la perplexus (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · es inscrutable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · pt inescrutável (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · tr anlaşılmaz (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · es insondable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · hi दुर्ज्ञेय (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ru непостижи́мый (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ar غَلِق (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · sv outgrundlig (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · it incomprensibile (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · fi käsittämätön (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · it impenetrabile (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · da uudgrundelig (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ro inscrutabil (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · cmn 不可理解的 (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ru зага́дочный (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · gl inescrutábel (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · el ακατανόητος (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ru неисповеди́мый (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · ro de necercetat (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret) · es inescrutable (difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom or interpret)