incomprehensible

[ in-kom-pri-hen-suh-buhl, in-kom- ]

adjective

1. impossible to understand or comprehend; unintelligible.

   Synonyms: baffling, obscure, bewildering

2. Archaic. limitless; not limited or capable of being limited.

incomprehensible

/ ˌɪnkɒmprɪˈhɛnsəbəl; ɪnˌkɒm- /

adjective

1. incapable of being understood; unintelligible
2. archaic.
   limitless; boundless

Derived Forms

• ˌincompreˈhensibly, adverb
• ˌincompreˌhensiˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• incom·pre·hensi·bili·ty incom·pre·hensi·ble·ness noun
• incom·pre·hensi·bly adverb
• super·incom·pre·hensi·ble adjective
• super·incom·pre·hensi·ble·ness noun
• super·incom·pre·hensi·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of incomprehensible¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English word from Latin word incomprehēnsibilis. See in- ³, comprehensible

Example Sentences

You can either say it’s impossibly difficult to imagine how the physical organ becomes the experiencing subject, so they must belong to two different universes and therefore, the subjective experience is incomprehensible and outside of science.

From Nautilus

Last year, for example, the Norwegian Consumer Council reported MyHeritage to the national consumer protection and data authorities after a legal assessment of the T&Cs found the contract it asks customers to sign to be “incomprehensible”.

From TechCrunch

The story of “Fortnite,” as incomprehensible as it seems, is actually about reality and worlds clashing together.

From Washington Post

That feat, the overcoming of incomprehensible distances and even greater odds, is what creates feelings of awe.

From Time

When I review the text now, though, it seems incomprehensible.

From Popular-Science

He frequently slips into Neapolitan dialect so thick that is incomprehensible.

From The Daily Beast

To be clear, I was not treading anywhere near the even more incomprehensible realm of (gasp) relationship definition.

From The Daily Beast

The Scottish language is, as all good Third World languages must be, incomprehensible.

From The Daily Beast

Their stories were told again and again in an attempt to assimilate the tragedy, to comprehend the incomprehensible.

From The Daily Beast

People here have adapted to a way of life that seems almost incomprehensible to those living in other parts of the world.

From The Daily Beast

Rinderpest, or some other incomprehensible disease, affected and decimated the imported herds.

From Project Gutenberg

I speak always according to worldly notions, always reverencing those incomprehensible ways which are not our ways.

From Project Gutenberg

It seems incomprehensible that these children should not be reclaimed, still more incomprehensible that no one seeks to do it.

From Project Gutenberg

There is only one who is incomprehensible, who stands alone and aloof in his greatness—Leo Tolstoi.

From Project Gutenberg

At last the weary one passed away from a world where the doings had all been dark and incomprehensible to her.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• baffling
• impenetrable
• inconceivable
• mystifying
• opaque
• puzzling
• unfathomable
• unimaginable
• unintelligible