as in incomprehensible
impossible to understand
advanced scientific theories of ungraspable complexity for the layperson
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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
It’s a megagenre, something the poet-philosopher Timothy Morton might call a hyperobject, ungraspable in its ubiquity and scale.
—
Virginia Heffernan,
WIRED,
13 Dec. 2022
The scope of something inexpressible, a mammoth, ungraspable intimation, had overtaken him.
—
Greg Jackson,
The New Yorker,
22 Nov. 2021
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
It’s a megagenre, something the poet-philosopher Timothy Morton might call a hyperobject, ungraspable in its ubiquity and scale.
—
Virginia Heffernan,
WIRED,
13 Dec. 2022
The scope of something inexpressible, a mammoth, ungraspable intimation, had overtaken him.
—
Greg Jackson,
The New Yorker,
22 Nov. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ungraspable
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.
-
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.
Adjective
-
Translation is a very mysterious thing because my goal is to create something that’s deeply equivalent but uses zero of the same words.
-
That is until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives.
Adjective
-
Two months of heavy rainfall resulted in then-unfathomable devastation that still reverberates today.
-
To some, the Galatasaray forward’s selection in the starting line-up is unfathomable and is now being used to portray Nagelsmann as stubborn or unwilling to react to performances.
Adjective
-
The 6-foot-11 Condon rebounds relentlessly, protects the rim, delivers uncanny passes and makes winning plays, none bigger than his hustle to secure Florida’s comeback victory against Houston in the 2025 national championship game.
-
Like Buster Keaton before him, Knoxville has an uncanny awareness of how his death-defying escapades appear on camera.
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.
-
The adversaries made for a striking scene, exchanging insults in mutually unintelligible languages in the dead of night.
Adjective
-
In spite of D'Arcy's best efforts, Rhaenyra is an impenetrable character with illogical choices and zero magnetism to the viewers (or seemingly, her councilors).
-
The Shiatsung Project In a bungalow surrounded by an impenetrable wall, a woman has been raised in isolation by a talking screen mounted on the living room wall, fullfilling her every wish without ever revealing the reasons for its life and existence.
Adjective
-
Afterwards, group members went on to form several other hugely meaningful outfits such as Slint, Gastr Del Sol, Bastro, Papa M and the For Carnation, transmuting Squirrel Bait’s Reagan-era aggression into more esoteric, impossible-to-classify sonic explorations.
-
This offers the do-it-yourself warrior a simple, direct route from antiquated lead-acid to state-of-the-art lithium without having to search for esoteric parts online.
Adjective
-
Messaging about what’s in the air has been confusing.
-
If the experience feels confusing or unreliable, employees may under-contribute or disengage altogether.
Cite this Entry
“Ungraspable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ungraspable. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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