Dictionary

un-understandability en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The quality of being ununderstandable.
   • We have heard many Carolinians descant on Gullah, it is African say they, it is Afro-Americano say others, and having heard it several times ourself, it is the last word in gibberish and un-understandability. 1930 October 4, Harvey Gaul, “Brilliant Inaugural Marks Arrival Of Theatrical October: Barrymore at Alvin in New Play, Nazimova At Nixon in Guild Production; George Sharp Offers Farce at Pitt”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, volume 4, number 56, page 11:
   • Maybe her un-understandability is what makes the Atlantic enthuse. 1934 March 7, A. J. Martin, “News & Views”, in The Braymer Bee, volume 47, number 35, Braymer, Mo., page one:
   • From the occasion of Balaam’s astonishment, “when the first great critic proffered his opinion” (as the witty Mr. Whistler has put it spitefully), down to these times of flippant oracles of art, the well-intentioned student has been bewildered and swerved from his own opinions, discouraged, in short, by the conflict or un-understandability of warring teachers. 1893 December, Charles Mason Fairbanks, “How to Study the Fine Arts”, in Theodore L. Flood, editor, The Chautauquan: A Monthly Magazine, volume XVIII; new series, volume IX, number 3, Meadville, Pa.: The T. L. Flood Publishing House, page 275:
   • These actions may become symbolical, lose the traces of their origins, and thus prevent a superficial un-understandability in a manner not dissimilar to the compulsions of some neurotics. 1935, James Wroten Woodard, Reificationand Supernaturalism as Factors in Social Rigidity and Social Change, Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania, →OCLC, page 59:
   • Their un-understandability, I suggested, was part of their charm? 1925, Dearborn Independent, page 24:

Forms

Synonyms

incomprehensibility · incomprehensibleness · non-understandability · un-understandableness