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an inscrutable work of art
He was a quiet, inscrutable man.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'inscrutable.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
You may have to scrutinize this word closely in order to speculate as to its origins, but there is at least one clue in this sentence. Inscrutable derives from the Late Latin adjective inscrutabilis, which can be traced back to the verb scrutari, meaning "to search or to examine." "Scrutari" is also the source of the English words "scrutinize" and "scrutiny." Incidentally, the antonym "scrutable" ("capable of being deciphered or understood") is a part of our language as well, though it's less common than "inscrutable."
First Known Use: 15th century
in the meaning defined above
See Words from the same yearambiguous, arcane, cryptic, dark, deep, elliptical (or elliptic), enigmatic (also enigmatical), equivocal, murky, mysterious, mystic, nebulous, obscure, occult, opaque;
accessible, clear, nonambiguous, obvious, plain, unambiguous, unequivocal;
comprehensible, fathomable, intelligible, knowable, legible, pellucid, understandable;
abstruse, esoteric, recondite;
cloaked, concealed, disguised, masked, shrouded;
cloudy, dim, faint, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, indistinguishable, misty, muddy, shaded, shadowlike, shadowy, sphinxlike;
indefinite, inexact, inexplicit, noncommittal, questionable, unclear, uncertain, undefined, undetermined, vague;
impenetrable, incomprehensible, indecipherable, inexplicable;
eerie (also eery), uncanny, weird;
baffling, bewildering, confounding, confusing, mystifying, perplexing, puzzling, unfathomable;
: difficult to understand : causing people to feel curious or confused
See words that rhyme with inscrutable Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for inscrutable Spanish Central: Translation of inscrutable Nglish: Translation of inscrutable for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of inscrutable for Arabic speakers
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