inscrutable

play

adjective in·scru·ta·ble \ in-ˈskrü-tə-bəl \

Definition of inscrutable

:not readily investigated, interpreted, or understood :mysterious

an inscrutable smile

inscrutable motives

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inscrutability

play \in-ˌskrü-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

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inscrutableness

play \in-ˈskrü-tə-bəl-nəs\ noun

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inscrutably

play \in-ˈskrü-tə-blē\ adverb

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Examples of inscrutable in a Sentence

Supersymmetry is a magic mirror, and everything in what we imagine to be the real world has its ghostly, inscrutable mirror image. —Ian Stewart, Prospect, September 2003
Of all the myths that have grown up around Alan Greenspan, the most powerful is the idea that he's willfully inscrutable. —James Surowiecki, New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2001
That wily politicians might adopt Franklin's distinction between appearance and reality to become inscrutable confidence men did not seem to trouble him. —John H. Summers, Journal of American History, December 2000
an inscrutable work of art
He was a quiet, inscrutable man.

Recent Examples of inscrutable from the Web

As much drama as the College Football Playoff has brought to the sport, most FBS teams won’t be in a position to spend November tracking the inscrutable deliberations of the committee that decides the final four teams.

— eric single, SI.com, "Bowl Projections: 2017's First Look at All 39 Projected Matchups," 29 Aug. 2017
One girl, Sabrina (Manal Issa), disguised as a city employee, applies a flammable substance to a bronze sculpture of Joan of Arc, her nervous eyes briefly meeting the statue’s inscrutable gaze.

— justin chang, latimes.com, "Bertrand Bonello's 'Nocturama' is a haunting portrait of young French terrorists in action," 14 Aug. 2017
The new HHS report is inscrutable and sparse even when compared with the department’s previous analyses of health-care laws and regulations.

— vann r. newkirk ii, The Atlantic, "The GOP Escalates Its Battle With the CBO," 22 July 2017
Series co-creator David Lynch, who directed the 18-episode revival of the inscrutable show did not join his cast for the panel.

— lindsey bahr, The Seattle Times, "MacLachlan is watching ‘Twin Peaks’ as it unfolds on air," 21 July 2017
Series co-creator David Lynch, who directed the 18-episode revival of the inscrutable show did not join his cast for the panel.

— Washington Post, "MacLachlan is watching ‘Twin Peaks’ as it unfolds on air," 21 July 2017
The great American press briefing is an ecosystem with its own traditions and its own inscrutable rules that has survived, in one form or another, for more than a hundred years.

— erin blakemore, Longreads, "The Press Has Always Been a Guest in the President’s Home," 1 July 2017
But the dads most of us grew up with — and without — are a more inscrutable lot.

— erin blakemore, Longreads, "Unknowable Dads: A Father’s Day Reading List," 19 June 2017
But this year would be different, for horrific and fundamentally inscrutable reasons. Shots fired.

— richard rainey, NOLA.com, "Steve Scalise and a would-be assassin's bullet: an American polemic," 17 June 2017

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.

Did You Know?

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."