incommunicable
Americanadjective
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incapable of being communicated, imparted, shared, etc.
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not communicative; taciturn.
adjective
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incapable of being communicated
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an obsolete word for incommunicative
Other Word Forms
- incommunicability noun
- incommunicableness noun
- incommunicably adverb
Etymology
Origin of incommunicable
From the Late Latin word incommūnicābilis, dating back to 1560–70. See in- 3, communicable
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.
Mr. Dyer remained a dutiful son but, sensing that part of his life was now incommunicable to his parents, withheld his most important feelings from them.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
When Ishmael stops by the Whaleman's Chapel before his fateful journey, "each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, as if each silent grief were insular and incommunicable."
From Salon • Dec. 11, 2021
Her new book, “Riddance; or, The Sybil Joines Vocational School for Ghost Speakers & Hearing-Mouth Children,” is a ravishing novel charged with the idea of the incommunicable.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 24, 2018
Flanagan said that he and his five siblings grew up “children of the Death Railway. We carried in consequence many incommunicable things.”
From Washington Times • Oct. 15, 2014
That I was not dueling with Argaven, but trying to communicate with him, was itself an incommunicable fact.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
