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ungraspable

adjective

ˌən-ˈgra-spə-bəl How to pronounce ungraspable (audio)
Definition of ungraspablenext
as in incomprehensible
impossible to understand advanced scientific theories of ungraspable complexity for the layperson

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 ungraspable What looked readable from above becomes ungraspable at ground level. — Daniel Scheffler, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2026 This is an ungraspable tragedy and loss. — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 1 Apr. 2026 To me, the self becomes a shifting monument, a territoire in perpetual metamorphosis, alive, fluid, and ungraspable. — Mame-Diarra Niang, Artforum, 2 Nov. 2025 Its scope is gargantuan and ungraspable, and as such, the appropriate level of grief does not seem human in scale. — Literary Hub, 21 July 2025 Paul’s attachments are ungraspable, transient, and forever underwritten by raw desire. — Vlada Gelman, TVLine, 27 Jan. 2025 One gazes into the geographical expanse of this place to try to grasp the ungraspable scale of things. — Andrew Cockburn, Harper’s Magazine , 5 Jan. 2023 The scope of something inexpressible, a mammoth, ungraspable intimation, had overtaken him. — Greg Jackson, The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2021 Eraserhead was so ungraspable, so far into left field, that most critics dismissed it at the time. — Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ungraspable
  1. incomprehensible
  2. mysterious
  3. unfathomable
  4. uncanny
  5. unintelligible
  6. impenetrable
  7. esoteric
  8. confusing
Adjective
  • The Music City Miracle now has a rival after Vanderbilt's improbable, and frankly incomprehensible, last-second victory against NC State on Saturday afternoon.
    — Jon Root OutKick, FOXNews.com, 19 Sep. 2026
  • This city is already a freaky liminal space full of snaking pathways that are almost incomprehensible.
    — Jordan Minor, PC Magazine, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of incomprehensible
Adjective
  • Afterward, guests made their way up to Shishi, tucked away on the third floor with a mysterious entrance.
    — Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 22 Sep. 2026
  • There’s a guy who wound up dying under mysterious circumstances that makes up part of him.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of mysterious
Adjective
  • Hasan deftly handles political seriousness and an unfathomable history and present of war and punitive state violence against Palestinians.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Dolphins fandom has been a miserable existence for more than a quarter century now, and for reasons that extend well beyond the unfathomable 25-year playoff victory drought in a league that prioritizes parity.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of unfathomable
Adjective
  • Their resemblance is uncanny; near carbon copies, some thirty years apart.
    — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Images often associated with barbarism on screen, like beheading the dead to memorialize them, are approached with an uncanny gentleness.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of uncanny
Adjective
  • Then Mikayla makes an almost unintelligible crack about Doug, which sends Taylor back into a rage spiral.
    — Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Assuming viewers understood the history of English soccer — or even the offside rule — could make the broadcasts unintelligible for new fans who understood neither.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of unintelligible
Adjective
  • Director Padraic McKinley’s debut feature stars Ethan Hawke as a battle-scarred veteran hired to smuggle a fortune in gold across 100 miles of impenetrable wilderness.
    — Payton Turkeltaub, Variety, 19 Sep. 2026
  • For most of our history as a country, and certainly in the post-World War II nuclear era, our borders felt impenetrable.
    — Michael Silver, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of impenetrable
Adjective
  • Their job is to reduce the world to a series of numbers that can be punched into increasingly complex statistical equations and published in esoteric journals with high barriers to entry and minuscule readerships.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Another challenge is that though the Langlands program is sweeping and unifying, the mathematical correspondences themselves are excruciatingly specific and esoteric.
    — Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of esoteric
Adjective
  • Here, those extra voices vastly outnumber the two main characters, leading to a profusion of confusing subplots that stray away from the main themes.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Vaccines increasingly feel like a high-stakes decision – but with increasingly confusing and contradictory public health information.
    — Jennifer Reich, The Conversation, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of confusing

Browse Nearby Words

ungrammatical
ungraspable
ungrateful
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Cite this Entry

“Ungraspable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ungraspable. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

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