indistinguishable
Americanadjective
-
not distinguishable.
-
indiscernible; imperceptible.
adjective
-
identical or very similar (to)
twins indistinguishable from one another
-
not easily perceptible; indiscernible
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of indistinguishable
First recorded in 1600–10; in- 3 + distinguishable ( def. )
Explanation
If you can't tell the difference between two things, they're indistinguishable — they appear the same. Although their parents can tell them apart, identical twins are indistinguishable to most people. It's easy to see which of two bills is worth twenty dollars and which is Monopoly money, but a professionally counterfeited bill is indistinguishable from a real one. One of the earliest uses of this word was by Shakespeare around 1600, when he gave it the meaning "of indeterminate shape." The definition evolved, first to "not clearly perceived," and then finally to "incapable of being told apart."
Vocabulary lists containing indistinguishable
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 1
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Brave New World
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Words with 15 or More Letters, List 1
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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.
Your TV and smartphone are far more interoperable and indistinguishable than ever before, and an inescapable user-tracking singularity is developing, accordingly, in your own living room.
From Slate • May 3, 2026
For reasons indistinguishable from mental illness, the U.K. still won’t.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
It’s possible that the public will become accustomed to AI slop as entertainment content, or that AI video quality will become essentially indistinguishable from filmed live action.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
Zhang began exploring the idea several years ago after noticing that many taxonomy studies were uncovering genetically distinct species that were visually indistinguishable.
From Science Daily • Mar. 3, 2026
When they sat perfectly still, each triplet was indistinguishable from his brothers.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
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.
