as in impenetrability
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Recent Examples of unknowability
Mitski treasures unknowability and change that conveniently upends expectations.
—
Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2026
Kyle’s complexity—her unknowability—is what has made her the franchise’s central character for fifteen years.
—Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026
Chrisjen's unknowability is her super-strength.
—Richard Edwards, Space.com, 14 Dec. 2025
Zhao’s adaptation, at its best, embraces the unknowability of this premise.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 Nov. 2025
Instead, what makes the triptych of thematically connected snapshots memorable is its deftly unfussy observation of the unknowability that can endure among people who share the same bloodlines.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2025
Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2026
Kyle’s complexity—her unknowability—is what has made her the franchise’s central character for fifteen years.
—Literary Hub, 24 Feb. 2026
Chrisjen's unknowability is her super-strength.
—Richard Edwards, Space.com, 14 Dec. 2025
Zhao’s adaptation, at its best, embraces the unknowability of this premise.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 Nov. 2025
Instead, what makes the triptych of thematically connected snapshots memorable is its deftly unfussy observation of the unknowability that can endure among people who share the same bloodlines.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 31 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for unknowability
- impenetrability
- inscrutability
- incomprehensibility
- mysteriousness
- unintelligibility
- vagueness
- profundity
- murkiness
Noun
-
Byrne is generous with his time and attention, but there’s also a Warholian air of mystery about him—a gentle impenetrability, a feeling of separateness.—
Amanda Petrusich,
New Yorker,
10 Nov. 2025
-
As a result, the impenetrability of EU bureaucracies will continue to limit the United States’ ability to restructure transatlantic economic relations.—
JENNIFER KAVANAGH,
Foreign Affairs,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
His work marries a depth of thought with inscrutability, and for over 15 years, this has resulted in rap music that is ambitious and vulnerable while Staples comes off as ambivalent about it in interviews.—
Jesse David Fox,
Vulture,
13 Nov. 2025
-
Whether or not Alice lived happily ever after, Gertrude seems to have done so, at least once her devils were banished by inscrutability.—
Judith Thurman,
New Yorker,
29 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
This was only the start of the incomprehensibility of this segment.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
That intrigue and mysteriousness still rest in the canyon walls today.—
Madison Dapcevich,
Outside,
13 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Patches of unintelligibility are nothing new in Pynchon, but usually a coherent world view gleams upward from the murk.—
Kathryn Schulz,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
City Attorney Ryan Denk shared concerns about the vagueness of the consequences for violating the ordinance and said the ordinance had to be enforced evenly.—
Lynne Hermansen,
Kansas City Star,
27 Feb. 2026
-
But in terms of its actual content, the statement was pretty thin gruel, bristling with public relations-style circumlocution and vagueness.—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Regardless of whether Arthur Agee and William Gates become the next Jordan — or even the next Isiah Thomas — their lives wind up far more interesting than potential glory, with unexpected developments achieving a profundity few scripts ever could have.—
Eric Farwell,
Entertainment Weekly,
21 Feb. 2026
-
There is probably an existential shock, and the profundity of that shock is probably not yet understood.—
Max Gao,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The murkiness of Acquisition Logistics’ involvement in El Paso is hardly an exception among many of the companies profiting from the border-security gold rush.—
Garrett M. Graff,
New Yorker,
28 Feb. 2026
-
There is a bit of murkiness on salaries for coaches of private schools like TCU, as USA Today’s amounts for private schools were based on schools’ most recently available financial records, which cover the 2023 calendar year.—
SportsDay Staff,
Dallas Morning News,
18 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Unknowability.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unknowability. Accessed 5 Mar. 2026.
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