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.
"The phytoliths found at Cloggs Cave were from different parts of grass plants such as stems, leaves, flowers and roots, indicating that whole grasses were brought in, including the inedible parts," said Grono.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
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
Gutierrez and her husband, Randy Ziglar, who’ve grown mixed produce and inedible plants at their Main plot for more than 40 years, don’t have a problem paying the extra fees, she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
Monday, it was returned to me, completely stale and inedible.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
