Kafkaesque

adjective

Definition of Kafkaesquenext
1
as in surreal

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words
2
as in incomprehensible

Related Words

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 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 See All Example Sentences for Kafkaesque
Recent Examples of Synonyms for Kafkaesque
  1. surreal
  2. incomprehensible
  3. unusual
  4. inexplicable
  5. irrational
  6. unfathomable
  7. strange
  8. unintelligible
Adjective
  • The movie itself is strange — a collection of six surreal shorts cobbled together to look like the cable-access and PBS fare Frost grew up on.
    — Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 18 July 2026
  • The feeling is surreal, because the core of ‘Saiyaara’ was always the fact that a song has the power to take you back to a moment, bring back a memory… bring back love.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 18 July 2026
Definition of surreal
Adjective
  • There have been times when acts of atrocity have been going on — and gosh, some of those things are incomprehensible — yet humanity has found a way.
    — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 27 June 2026
  • Being joyful there — in the Dominican Republic, where small shacks and houses pieced together by junkyard scraps sometimes hold families with over a dozen members — seems incomprehensible.
    — Daniel Flick, AJC.com, 25 June 2026
Definition of incomprehensible
Adjective
  • But a small part is how the Rays have managed his unusual situation, handling him with some care.
    — Marc Topkin, The Orlando Sentinel, 19 July 2026
  • Categories for entrants in the pet parade included cutest pet, an owner and pet dress-alike, the biggest and smallest pet, most unusual pet and best trick.
    — David Sharos, Chicago Tribune, 19 July 2026
Definition of unusual
Adjective
  • 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
  • And those benefits, the story goes, are endangered by an inexplicable quirk in the law that applies Social Security payroll taxes to only the first $184,500 in annual wages (a figure that rises annually with wage inflation).
    — Jessica Riedl, The Atlantic, 6 July 2026
Definition of inexplicable
Adjective
  • Their ideas about it were often steeped in stereotypes suggesting that Buddhists were irrational and childish in their thinking.
    — Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 7 July 2026
  • Scammers often use isolation tactics in phone calls to panic the listener and rush them into making irrational choices that often have financial costs.
    — Ella Moore July 2, Miami Herald, 2 July 2026
Definition of irrational
Adjective
  • Martin’s most poignant moment all season is her inscrutable look as Raskova gazes between Anastasia and Sasha; two people sacrificing themselves for love is unfathomable to her.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 July 2026
  • Google Books and the Internet Archive represent libraries of unfathomable proportions.
    — Rose Horowitch, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026
Definition of unfathomable
Adjective
  • While Deliverance follows more or less in the footsteps of Blackwater Park, Damnation digs into a strange new realm for the band, uncovering something even darker.
    — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 19 July 2026
  • Downstate, the threat of black vultures still feels new and strange.
    — Andrew Carter, Chicago Tribune, 19 July 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
See all Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Kafkaesque.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Kafkaesque. Accessed 21 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of dog days

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Longest Long Words List

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

Why do we say 'fly off the handle'?
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
child-detective
Spot the Misspelled Word July 2026 Those little red underlines can't help you now...
See All