Kafkaesque

adjective

Definition of Kafkaesquenext
1
as in surreal

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Dissimilar Words
2
as in incomprehensible

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Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of Kafkaesque For the average soccer fan, the quest for 2026 World Cup tickets started last year when FIFA opened its Kafkaesque lottery system. — Natalie B. Compton, Washington Post, 5 June 2026 Much of the book hovers on the edge of reality before diving into moments of Kafkaesque disorder. — Via Catapult, Literary Hub, 5 June 2026 On some level, Hasna senses that such a soulless, Kafkaesque environment has to be hiding worse evils than paycheck withholding and infrequent bathroom breaks. — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 18 May 2026 One major limiting factor for figure skating’s broadcast opportunities has been the sport’s reliance on music, the licensing for which has required Kafkaesque levels of clearance, even in the lead-up to Milan. — Sara Germano, Sportico.com, 24 Mar. 2026 The funniest scenes in One Battle After Another find Leonardo DiCaprio’s explosives expert locked in a Kafkaesque squabble with an operator on a revolutionary hotline. — Craigh Barboza, HollywoodReporter, 15 Mar. 2026 Since then, bank customers have complained that they’re still getting cut out of the financial system, but that firms won’t say why — leaving them in a Kafkaesque limbo. — Tom Schoenberg, Bloomberg, 12 Mar. 2026 The high court agreed, in a 5-4 decision with Kafkaesque logic. — Joe Mathews, Mercury News, 10 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for Kafkaesque
  1. surreal
  2. incomprehensible
  3. unusual
  4. inexplicable
  5. irrational
  6. unfathomable
  7. strange
  8. unintelligible
Adjective
  • In the reality of grief, life shuttled between the public and the personal, the surreal and the hyperreal.
    — Katie Whyatt, New York Times, 31 July 2026
  • The Sullivans’ sparse, slightly surreal arrangements take an economic approach.
    — W. Reed Putnam, Pitchfork, 30 July 2026
Definition of surreal
Adjective
  • Here are three stars that appear neatly connected overhead, but in reality, one is separated by an incomprehensible distance.
    — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 24 July 2026
  • By that point, almost five minutes down on yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar, the Tour may already have been done — save for an incomprehensible effort over Alpe d’Huez, or misfortune to Pogacar himself.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 21 July 2026
Definition of incomprehensible
Adjective
  • Ultimately, both sides are jockeying for power after the war, given the unusual uncertainty brought on by the change in the supreme leadership.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Some reported magnetic order, unusual Hall effects, and efficient spin-charge conversion, while others found no evidence of magnetism in bulk crystals or relaxed thin films.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of unusual
Adjective
  • Fans rightfully mocked the dancing cars mounted on robot arms that played during an inexplicable diversion on Universal Studios Hollywood’s Studio Tour.
    — Robert Niles, Oc Register, 21 July 2026
  • They were shocked by their inexplicable sloppiness, by a flop that not a single one of them could answer for.
    — Henry Bushnell, New York Times, 7 July 2026
Definition of inexplicable
Adjective
  • In both cases, cheap credit fueled the irrational exuberance.
    — Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, 21 July 2026
  • An irrational holding on to the possibility of a comeback, if that was the word if no one noticed you’d retired in the first place.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 July 2026
Definition of irrational
Adjective
  • Google has reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2026 (PDF), and as usual, the search giant raked in an unfathomable amount of money.
    — Ryan Whitwam, ArsTechnica, 23 July 2026
  • When Mina’s closest friend Lucy succumbs to his thrall, the enigmatic Professor Van Helsing is summoned to wage war on this unfathomable threat.
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 22 July 2026
Definition of unfathomable
Adjective
  • That strange sense of incompletion hung over the Detroit Tigers’ clubhouse Saturday night.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Having collaborated with his parents since the late 1980s, Berenstain was no stranger to furthering the family legacy.
    — Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of strange
Adjective
  • The world premiere on Sunday – in the presence of Illumination boss Chris Meledandri and director Pierre Coffin, who is also the origin of the minions’ unintelligible chatter – kicks off one of the biggest Annecy Film Festival’s yet.
    — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 19 June 2026
  • The adversaries made for a striking scene, exchanging insults in mutually unintelligible languages in the dead of night.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 June 2026
Definition of unintelligible

Browse Nearby Words

kaffeeklatsches
Kafkaesque
kahuna
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Cite this Entry

“Kafkaesque.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Kafkaesque. Accessed 4 Aug. 2026.

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