1
as in mysterious
being beyond one's powers to know, understand, or explain
the many inscrutable beliefs of that ancient religion
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2
as in ambiguous
having an often intentionally veiled or uncertain meaning
ancient oracles typically uttered inscrutable prophecies that could be interpreted almost any way one chose
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Recent Examples of inscrutable
Putin, by all accounts, runs an inscrutable if strongman geopolitical playbook.
—
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 19 Aug. 2025
But how much of your personality—a mercurial phenomenon—is deterministic, a set of probabilities that are no more inscrutable to algorithms than the arrangement of pieces on a chessboard?
—Webb Wright, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2025
Nevala-Lee’s previous biography was on Buckminster Fuller, architect, futurist, longtime professor at Southern Illinois University, but also an infamously obtuse, inscrutable mansplainer’s mansplainer — his lectures seemed to go on for days.
—Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2025
Getting to the bottom of, say, the seed-oil controversy requires engaging with thorny scientific debates that reference inscrutable research papers; embracing the natural and ancestral by opting for tallow is an attractively simple-seeming alternative.
—Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 11 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inscrutable
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 19 Aug. 2025
But how much of your personality—a mercurial phenomenon—is deterministic, a set of probabilities that are no more inscrutable to algorithms than the arrangement of pieces on a chessboard?
—Webb Wright, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2025
Nevala-Lee’s previous biography was on Buckminster Fuller, architect, futurist, longtime professor at Southern Illinois University, but also an infamously obtuse, inscrutable mansplainer’s mansplainer — his lectures seemed to go on for days.
—Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2025
Getting to the bottom of, say, the seed-oil controversy requires engaging with thorny scientific debates that reference inscrutable research papers; embracing the natural and ancestral by opting for tallow is an attractively simple-seeming alternative.
—Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 11 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inscrutable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inscrutable
Adjective
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In an effort to help the group retrieve it, Guy encounters William Fitchner’s Jasper, a mysterious American who has quietly assumed control and influence over the Talamasca’s London Motherhouse.—
Abbey White,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Sep. 2025
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Released in 2004, the film follows Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, who finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The first three episodes currently streaming on Paramount+ reveal that the Tiva dynamic remains as ambiguous as ever.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 Sep. 2025
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The term has become both expansive and ambiguous.—
Lauren Buitta,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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These fish, known for their cryptic behavior, were identified as a neonative species, expanding their range naturally.—
Real-Time News team,
Miami Herald,
5 Sep. 2025
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Ars reached out to Google for an explanation, receiving a cryptic and somewhat unsatisfying reply.—
Ryan Whitwam,
ArsTechnica,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The brand’s giant green owl mascot dances badly, makes obscure pop culture references and pokes fun at the company’s push notifications.—
Leeron Walter,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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Indeed, compared to 2005’s Broken Flowers, this is a wilfully obscure step back to his deadpan, experimental roots, a gentle, almost deliberately un-film that is best not viewed in too much proximity to the witching hour.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
31 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Acclaimed country musician Orville Peck will make his film debut in Street Fighter as the enigmatic Vega, a masked fighter with a freaky set of Freddy Krueger claws.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
6 Sep. 2025
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One of Al Pacino’s finest performances of the 1970s — which, with the Godfather films and Serpico, is an absurd hot hand — is as the enigmatic, wild-eyed Sonny, a man who performs a desperate bank robbery with his partner (the late John Cazale, by turns heartbreakingly clueless and dopily funny).—
Christina Newland,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The company’s extraordinary rise from an upstart carmaker to a global force in sustainable energy and transport has been fueled by his relentless ambition and uncanny ability to attract capital.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
5 Sep. 2025
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Although Romano rightly considered her depictions of dreams to be realistic, the book itself, with its uncanny, fragmented narratives, could not have been more distinct from the neorealist literature that was in vogue at the time.—
Brian Robert Moore
September 5,
Literary Hub,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Kraus also had a dark backpack on her person.—
Amaris Encinas,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
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Lakshmi shared a photo and video of herself at the beach wearing a dark pink bikini while playing in the water.—
Angel Saunders,
People.com,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Yet Blanc’s real faith lies in the nearly mystic quality involved in seeing what the human animal is capable of.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
7 Sep. 2025
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Yeats’s spirals, once dismissed as the wild diagrams of a mystic, now settle over this place like soot.—
Alaa Alqaisi
August 13,
Literary Hub,
13 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inscrutable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inscrutable. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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