unknowable
not knowable; incapable of being known or understood.
something that is unknowable.
the Unknowable, the postulated reality lying behind all phenomena but not cognizable by any of the processes by which the mind cognizes phenomenal objects.
Origin of unknowable
1Words Nearby unknowable
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use unknowable in a sentence
This made the ancient flora of modern deserts relatively unknowable.
What’s in a packrat’s petrified pee? Just a few thousand years of secrets. | Rachel Feltman | August 12, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThere’s a sense of conflict inherent in her music, beauty and chaos entwined, jazz tradition and the unknowable are all there at once.
Alice Coltrane is finally heralded as a jazz great. A new reissue doesn’t do her justice. | Andy Beta | July 9, 2021 | Washington PostAs we’ve heard today, there are a variety of moving targets, a variety of unknowable variables, when you think about the future of work.
My heart felt stirred and shaken up, as if massaged by some great, unknowable force.
Kayaking with Giants in Kenai Fjords National Park | Emily Pennington | May 13, 2021 | Outside OnlineBelieving love to be unknowable is a wholly disempowering stance toward something with enormous consequences for our daily lives.
In this love story, a few bits of wisdom amid woefully out-of-date ‘lessons’ | Mandy Len Catron | April 23, 2021 | Washington Post
X and Y could be terrible on their own, unknowable terms, and therefore incomparable.
He was always affable but ultimately unknowable; intellectually incurious but ferociously ambitious.
The Messy, Sordid Story of Jim Greer, Charlie Crist’s Man to a Fault | Rick Wilson | June 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTDoug Kenney was many things to many people—funny, generous, unknowable.
Doug Kenney: The Odd Comic Genius Behind ‘Animal House’ and National Lampoon | Robert Sam Anson | March 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Glassless will walk around with heads ducked down, desperate to avoid the mysterious, unknowable intentions of the Glassed.
Google Glass’s Insane, Terrifying Etiquette Guide | Tim Teeman | February 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST“People are unknowable,” Hardy mutters—his last lesson for Miller.
‘Broadchurch’ Is Great TV for Fans of ‘Downton Abbey,’ ‘Doctor Who,’ and ‘Prime Suspect’ | Andrew Romano | August 7, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTOne might almost say that the air, the invisible air, is full of unknowable Forces, whose mysterious presence we have to endure.
Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) | VariousI have no intention of discussing here the philosophic value of the "unknowable."
Theism or Atheism | Chapman CohenWith this we can all agree, but it does not bring us any nearer an "unknowable."
Theism or Atheism | Chapman CohenWe have already referred to the use made by religionists of Spencer's "unknowable."
Theism or Atheism | Chapman CohenHe bases all his knowledge upon his knowledge of "the unknowable."
The Hidden Power | Thomas Troward
British Dictionary definitions for unknowable (1 of 2)
/ (ʌnˈnəʊəbəl) /
incapable of being known or understood
beyond human understanding
(as noun): the unknowable
Derived forms of unknowable
- unknowableness or unknowability, noun
- unknowably, adverb
British Dictionary definitions for Unknowable (2 of 2)
/ (ʌnˈnəʊəbəl) /
the Unknowable philosophy the ultimate reality that underlies all phenomena but cannot be known
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
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