inscrutable

[in-skroo-tuh-buhl]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR inscrutable ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

incapable of being investigated, analyzed, or scrutinized; impenetrable.

not easily understood; mysterious; unfathomable: an inscrutable smile.

incapable of being seen through physically; physically impenetrable: the inscrutable depths of the ocean.

Origin of inscrutable

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English word from Late Latin word inscrūtābilis. See in-³, scrutable

Related formsin·scru·ta·bil·i·ty, in·scru·ta·ble·ness, nounin·scru·ta·bly, adverb

Synonyms for inscrutable

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR inscrutable ON THESAURUS.COM

1. hidden, incomprehensible, undiscoverable, inexplicable.

Synonym study

1. See mysterious.

Antonyms for inscrutable

1. comprehensible.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for inscrutability

riddle, conundrum, subtlety, question, enigma, secrecy, problem, thriller, puzzlement, isolation, seclusion, mystification, perplexity, stickler, cliffhanger, twister, occult, cryptogram, crux, difficulty

Examples from the Web for inscrutability

Contemporary Examples of inscrutability

Not only can this create a feeling of helplessness, it also lends drones an inscrutability that can feel threatening.
Why Drones Make Us Nervous
Josh Dzieza
May 17, 2013
She prepares for her whirlwind, worldwide fashion week tour with inscrutability and perfectionism.
Fashion's Other Anna
Paul Flynn
September 26, 2010

Historical Examples of inscrutability

It was all humbug––all this mummery about intuitions and unerring perception and inscrutability.
Rope
Holworthy Hall
In a kind of radiance, superb in her inscrutability, she laughed before him.
The Rainbow
D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
And he was so glad that this decree was inexorable, that its inscrutability did not trouble him at all.
Interrupted
Pansy
Was it not De Quincey that had a horror of the Chinese—of their inhumaneness and their inscrutability?
From Sea to Sea
Rudyard Kipling
"I hope so," she said, with no diminution of her inscrutability.
The Regent
E. Arnold Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for inscrutability

inscrutable

adjective

incomprehensible; mysterious or enigmatic

Derived Formsinscrutability or inscrutableness, nouninscrutably, adverb

Word Origin for inscrutable

C15: from Late Latin inscrūtābilis, from Latin in- 1 + scrūtārī to examine

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for inscrutability

1650s, from inscrutable + -ity.

inscrutable

adj.

c.1500, from Late Latin inscrutabilis, from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + scrutabilis, from scrutari "examine, ransack" (see scrutiny). Related: Inscrutably.