Word Study
inconclusive
CIDE DICTIONARY
inconclusive, a.
Not conclusive; leading to no conclusion; not closing or settling a point in debate, or a doubtful question; as, evidence is inconclusive when it does not exhibit the truth of a disputed case in such a manner as to satisfy the mind, and put an end to debate or doubt. [1913 Webster]
"Arguments . . . inconclusive and impertinent."
OXFORD DICTIONARY
inconclusive, adj. (of an argument, evidence, or action) not decisive or convincing.
Derivative
inconclusively adv. inconclusiveness n.
THESAURUS
inconclusive
absonant, contradictory, contrary to reason, fallacious, faulty, feeble, flawed, flimsy, groundless, illogical, inauthentic, incongruous, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, indecisive, indefinite, indeterminate, insubstantial, invalid, irrational, loose, nonscientific, not following, not proved, open, paralogical, poor, reasonless, self-annulling, self-contradictory, self-refuting, senseless, unascertained, unattested, unauthentic, unauthenticated, uncertain, uncertified, unconfirmed, unconnected, uncorroborated, undemonstrated, undetermined, unestablished, unfinished, unfixed, unfounded, unphilosophical, unproved, unproven, unreasonable, unresolved, unrigorous, unscientific, unsettled, unshown, unsound, unsubstantial, unsubstantiated, unsupported, unsupported by evidence, unsustained, untested, untried, unvalidated, unverified, weak, without basis, without grounds, without reasonROGET THESAURUS
inconclusive
& Sophistry
N intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling, presentiment, premonition, rule of thumb, superstition, astrology, faith (supposition), sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion, chicane, chicanery, quiddet, quiddity, mystification, special pleading, speciousness, nonsense, word sense, tongue sense, false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning, petitio principii, ignoratio elenchi, post hoc ergo propter hoc, non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius, misjudgment, false teaching, sophism, solecism, paralogism, quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet, inconsistency, antilogy, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, claptrap, cant, mere words, lame and impotent conclusion, meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry, flaw in an argument, weak point, bad case, overrefinement, hairsplitting, intuitive, instinctive, impulsive, independent of reason, anterior to reason, gratuitous, hazarded, unconnected, unreasonable, illogical, false, unsound, invalid, unwarranted, not following, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, absonous, absonant, unscientific, untenable, inconclusive, incorrect, fallacious, fallible, groundless, unproved, non sequitur, it does not follow, deceptive, sophistical, jesuitical, illusive, illusory, specious, hollow, plausible, ad captandum, evasive, irrelevant, weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague, irrational, nonsensical, foolish, frivolous, pettifogging, quibbling, finespun, overrefined, at the end of one's tether, au bout de son latin, intuitively, by intuition, illogically, non constat, that goes for nothing.For further exploring for "inconclusive" in Webster Dictionary Online