1
as in surreal
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2
as in incomprehensible
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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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For Barr, the experience was both surreal and affirming.—
Abby Montanez,
Robb Report,
17 Oct. 2025
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All the parts fit well in this sometimes surreal, sometimes darkly humorous journey into the crumbling mind of a stressed woman.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In the face of that, Keaton’s off- and sometimes on-duty style represented limitless possibilities, and a previously incomprehensible kind of freedom.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
12 Oct. 2025
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And the thought of McDavid leaving Edmonton under any condition once felt incomprehensible.—
Eric Stephens,
New York Times,
1 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This is not unusual, because Mahomes teammates have done that in the past (notably Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and many others).—
Pete Grathoff,
Kansas City Star,
13 Oct. 2025
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Sometimes, Gatlin would also approve invoices from Georgia companies, which would have been unusual given that Jackson Health System and the Foundation usually work with South Florida vendors.—
Michelle Marchante,
Miami Herald,
12 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Cianfrance doesn’t have to push the humor, which unfolds organically, due to Manchester’s reputation as an exceedingly nice and polite armed robber, an inexplicable blend of traits that happens to be the bullseye of Tatum’s skillset as a performer.—
Katie Walsh,
Twin Cities,
11 Oct. 2025
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Advertisement Since then, violent video games consistently have been blamed after mass shootings, as the technology remains an outlet for our collective fears over extraordinary and inexplicable horrors.—
Time,
Time,
8 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Poetry brings hope, not an irrational optimism or wishful thinking, but a positive orientation to the future, of what a better, healthier future would look like.—
K.J.S. “Sunny” Anand,
Time,
15 Oct. 2025
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Marks believes that investor optimism doesn’t automatically signal irrational exuberance.—
Yun Li,
CNBC,
13 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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That may sound unfathomable to any non-comic reader who watched Steven Yeun's Mark Grayson get bludgeoned, maimed, and nearly disemboweled (sorry, Atom Eve) in an episode-long, cities-spanning fight with Thragg's berzerker warrior, Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).—
Nick Romano,
Entertainment Weekly,
10 Oct. 2025
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Not after another season of beautiful dreams ended in the most painful, most unfathomable way possible, even by Phillies standards.—
Jayson Stark,
New York Times,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The film had transformed from the messy, illogical version I’d first seen into a hilarious, shrewd, contemplative work of art.—
Susan Orlean,
New Yorker,
11 Oct. 2025
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The composition has many hallmarks of surrealism, including dream logic – the strange, flowing and often illogical progression of images reflecting the unpredictable nature of dreams – metamorphosis and psychic ambiguity.—
Sally Jane Brown,
The Conversation,
29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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But in an Akan language, the notion that an object could exist as a bare substrate, stripped of properties—say, the idea of a stone, with its weight, texture, and color subtracted—is basically unintelligible; the metaphysical split between a thing and its properties isn’t naturally expressible.—
Lula Konner,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Oct. 2025
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However, audio quality can make or break social media content and while some people can tolerate less-than-perfect video, poor and unintelligible sound often has audiences swiping left.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Kafkaesque.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Kafkaesque. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.
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