1
as in surreal
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2
as in incomprehensible
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of Kafkaesque
Those who value and respect America but couldn’t find their way through the Kafkaesque immigration system deserve a chance to rectify their situation.
—
Agustina Vergara Cid, Oc Register, 10 Aug. 2025
In a Kafkaesque twist, Trump’s chart assigns Eswatini the lowest possible (10 percent) reciprocal tariff, despite the fact the nation applies the same external tariffs as Lesotho.
—Robert Goulder, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
To be fair, dealing with any healthcare bureaucracy in America is sure to be frustrating and annoying, and will most likely turn into a Kafkaesque nightmare.
—Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 27 June 2025
Obtaining a permit to fly a drone in Nepal as a foreigner was a somewhat Kafkaesque exercise in patience.
—Ben Ayers, Outside Online, 6 May 2025
These are intentional Kafkaesque problems that the Trump Administration is creating.
—Grace Byron, New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2025
No one wants to have their family vacation turned into some Kafkaesque nightmare at the hands of ICE agents emboldened by the country's general climate of incipient fascism.
—Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Apr. 2025
That standard was used to suppress the speech of faculty, such as Northwestern professor Laura Kipnis, who in a Kafkaesque turn was the subject of a legal complaint by students under Title IX for writing an op-ed column criticizing the Obama view of Title IX.
—The Editors, National Review, 16 Apr. 2025
Agustina Vergara Cid, Oc Register, 10 Aug. 2025
In a Kafkaesque twist, Trump’s chart assigns Eswatini the lowest possible (10 percent) reciprocal tariff, despite the fact the nation applies the same external tariffs as Lesotho.
—Robert Goulder, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
To be fair, dealing with any healthcare bureaucracy in America is sure to be frustrating and annoying, and will most likely turn into a Kafkaesque nightmare.
—Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 27 June 2025
Obtaining a permit to fly a drone in Nepal as a foreigner was a somewhat Kafkaesque exercise in patience.
—Ben Ayers, Outside Online, 6 May 2025
These are intentional Kafkaesque problems that the Trump Administration is creating.
—Grace Byron, New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2025
No one wants to have their family vacation turned into some Kafkaesque nightmare at the hands of ICE agents emboldened by the country's general climate of incipient fascism.
—Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Apr. 2025
That standard was used to suppress the speech of faculty, such as Northwestern professor Laura Kipnis, who in a Kafkaesque turn was the subject of a legal complaint by students under Title IX for writing an op-ed column criticizing the Obama view of Title IX.
—The Editors, National Review, 16 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for Kafkaesque
Adjective
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Melissa, still one of the most obvious jelly shoe authorities, took the softer surreal lane with Susan Fang, bringing jelly into floral ballet flats, Sakura platform details and opaque-to-clear gradients.—
Maggie Clancy,
Footwear News,
12 May 2026
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And finally… ▶️ Stunning rainbow cloud No, this surreal image isn’t AI-generated.—
Alexandra Banner,
CNN Money,
12 May 2026
Adjective
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Europeans, Bennett notes, find this genuinely incomprehensible.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
11 May 2026
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Ashly's death is an incomprehensible tragedy.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
6 May 2026
Adjective
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But, in other respects, your approach to the future might have been unusual, at least by our modern lights.—
Joshua Rothman,
New Yorker,
8 May 2026
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They have also been shown to exhibit play behavior with objects in their enclosures, highly unusual behavior for a reptile.—
Craig Stanford,
Big Think,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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The state’s inexplicable obsession with secrecy means no one knows.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
6 May 2026
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Lego Horizon Adventures is an inexplicable mashup between the famous building blocks and Sony's widely popular open-world epic.—
George Yang,
PC Magazine,
1 May 2026
Adjective
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His deep dive into the genre left him with some pet peeves, not least the irrational or simply implausible behavior of many horror-movie protagonists.—
Alex Barasch,
New Yorker,
11 May 2026
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Evans and his backers were rational actors inside an irrational system.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
1 May 2026
Adjective
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There is no way to fill the unfillable void left by Ashly's passing and no way to make sense of this unfathomable loss.—
Luke Chinman,
PEOPLE,
6 May 2026
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That's unfathomable, especially in a market like Boston.—
Zach Dean OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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The band played a rather strange/disturbing version of Happy Birthday, and Bilbo’s cake appeared before us.—
Gregg Kilday,
HollywoodReporter,
12 May 2026
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One monitor shows guitarist Jonny Greenwood manipulating a strange electronic device exuding tangled wires; another loops footage of a burning building.—
Jonathan Cohen,
SPIN,
12 May 2026
Adjective
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Still, even as the memes become borderline unintelligible, Kirkslop contains an air of transgression that imbues the otherwise inane edits and images with perverse political undercurrents.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
29 Apr. 2026
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In it, a local TV meteorologist played by Emily Blunt goes mute mid-broadcast and comes out instead with a series of unintelligible noises that rivet viewers.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
15 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Kafkaesque.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Kafkaesque. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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