inedible
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inedible
Explanation
The adjective inedible is good for describing a food that cannot be eaten, like your grandmother's burnt toast, or an object that shouldn't be eaten, like your snow boots. Some things are literally inedible, like your dining room table or a cast iron skillet, while others are described as inedible in a more figurative way: "I can't stand cilantro — now this taco is totally inedible!" The word has been around since the early 1800s to mean "unfit to eat," combining the Latin prefix in, which means "not" or "the opposite," with edibilis, "eatable" in Late Latin.
Vocabulary lists containing inedible
The Sea of Monsters
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Everything, Everything
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The Last Beekeeper
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Composed of bran flour pieces, it was hard and virtually inedible.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 21, 2026
The trader said he lost $60,000 last month after a container he imported from Kenya was impounded at the Congolese border for several weeks, rendering milk, cheese and sausages inedible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
The food was often inedible, and the water was discolored.
From Slate ● Feb. 3, 2026
Residents at some Clearsprings sites have told the BBC of poor conditions inside their hotels, and sent us photos and video diaries of the food provided, describing some of it as "inedible".
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
It would have to be someone quick and close-lipped, for once rumors of those foul-smelling, inedible loaves spread, no respectable baker would dare come to Ashton Place for fear of the dreaded “bakehouse curse.”
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
