unknowable

American  

[uhn-noh-uh-buhl] / ʌnˈnoʊ ə bəl /

adjective

1. not knowable; incapable of being known or understood.

---

noun

1. something that is unknowable.

2. the Unknowable, the postulated reality lying behind all phenomena but not cognizable by any of the processes by which the mind cognizes phenomenal objects.

unknowable ¹ British  

/ ʌnˈnəʊəbəl /

adjective

1. incapable of being known or understood

2. 1. beyond human understanding

   2. ( as noun )

      the unknowable

---

Unknowable ² British  

/ ʌnˈnəʊəbəl /

noun

1. philosophy the ultimate reality that underlies all phenomena but cannot be known

---

Other Word Forms

• unknowableness noun
• unknowably adverb

Etymology

Origin of unknowable

Middle English word dating back to 1325–75; un- ¹, knowable

Example Sentences

And that in turn is conditional on a host of at this stage unknowable developments: the deployment of ground forces, the contribution of neighbors and others to the shipping challenge.

From The Wall Street Journal

Because private-credit loans don’t trade, their true value is unknowable until they mature or are sold.

From The Wall Street Journal

“It is the clock,” he said, and the duration of the oil shock currently remains “unknowable with any precision.”

From MarketWatch

But, as Tate Britain’s concurrent “Turner and Constable” exhibition shows, Romantic nature was passionate and unstable, and all the more precious for being unknowable.

From The Wall Street Journal

At its best, it’s poetry trying to make sense of the unknowable.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• baffling
• cryptic
• curious
• dark
• enigmatic
• inexplicable
• inscrutable
• magical
• mystical
• mystifying
• obscure
• perplexing
• puzzling
• secretive
• strange
• unknown
• weird