incommensurable

[ in-kuh-men-ser-uh-buhl, -sher- ]
See synonyms for incommensurable on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. not commensurable; having no common basis, measure, or standard of comparison.

  2. utterly disproportionate.

  1. Mathematics. (of two or more quantities) having no common measure.

noun
  1. something that is incommensurable.

  2. Mathematics. one of two or more incommensurable quantities.

Origin of incommensurable

1
From the Late Latin word incommēnsūrābilis, dating back to 1550–60. See in-3, commensurable

Other words from incommensurable

  • in·com·men·su·ra·bil·i·ty, in·com·men·su·ra·ble·ness, noun
  • in·com·men·su·ra·bly, adverb

Words Nearby incommensurable

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use incommensurable in a sentence

  • Premeditations, Powers, fore-ordained Destinies, elaborate there together an incommensurable work.

    Toilers of the Sea | Victor Hugo
  • Without undertaking to measure and compare what is incommensurable, I hold that Goethe's genius is essentially lyrical.

  • Lastly, the Pythagoreans discovered the existence of incommensurable lines, or of irrationals.

    Archimedes | Thomas Little Heath
  • But any such double standard, in which the two measures are absolutely incommensurable, leads straight to chaos.

  • And he comes, not merely in time, pretty close to Defoe, incommensurable as is the genius of the two.

    The English Novel | George Saintsbury

British Dictionary definitions for incommensurable

incommensurable

/ (ˌɪnkəˈmɛnʃərəbəl) /


adjective
  1. incapable of being judged, measured, or considered comparatively

  2. (postpositive foll by with) not in accordance; incommensurate

  1. maths

    • (of two numbers) having an irrational ratio

    • not having units of the same dimension

    • unrelated to another measurement by integral multiples

noun
  1. something incommensurable

Derived forms of incommensurable

  • incommensurability or incommensurableness, noun
  • incommensurably, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012