inscrutable

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: in=scru=ta=ble

CIDE DICTIONARY

inscrutable, a. [L. inscrutabilis : cf. F. inscrutable. See In- not, and Scrutiny.].

 Unsearchable; incapable of being searched into and understood by inquiry or study; impossible or difficult to be explained or accounted for satisfactorily; obscure; incomprehensible; as, an inscrutable design or event.  [1913 Webster]
"'T is not in man
To yield a reason for the will of Heaven
Which is inscrutable."  [1913 Webster]
"Waiving a question so inscrutable as this."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

inscrutable, adj. wholly mysterious, impenetrable.

Derivative

inscrutability n. inscrutableness n. inscrutably adv.

Etymology

ME f. eccl.L inscrutabilis (as IN-(1), scrutari search: see SCRUTINY)

THESAURUS

inscrutable

Greek to one, ambiguous, arcane, beyond understanding, cabalistic, impenetrable, inarticulate, incognizable, incoherent, incomprehensible, mystic, numinous, past comprehension, rambling, unaccountable, unconnected, unfathomable, unguessed, unintelligible, unknowable, unsearchable

ROGET THESAURUS

inscrutable

Unintelligibility

N unintelligibility, incomprehensibility, imperspicuity, inconceivableness, vagueness, obscurity, ambiguity, doubtful meaning, uncertainty, perplexity, spinosity, obscurum per obscurius, mystification, latency, transcendentalism, paradox, oxymoron, riddle, enigma, puzzle, diagnus vindice nodus, sealed book, steganography, freemasonry, pons asinorum, asses' bridge, high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew, jargon, unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable, unknowable, unfathomable, incognizable, inexplicable, inscrutable, inapprehensible, incomprehensible, insolvable, insoluble, impenetrable, illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical, enigmatic, enigmatical, puzzling (secret), indecipherable, obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim, nebulous, shrouded in mystery, opaque, dense, undiscernible, misty, hidden, latent, indefinite, garbled, perplexed, undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous, mysterious, mystic, mystical, acroamatic, acroamatical, metempirical, transcendental, occult, recondite, abstruse, crabbed, inconceivable, inconceptible, searchless, above comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension, beyond one's depth, unconceived, inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable, unpredictable, unforeseeable, it's Greek to me.