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incomprehensibly

incomprehensibly

2 8.0
It is very hard to understand
  • adverb
  • /ˌɪnkəmˈprɛhənsəbli/
translation icon : incomprensiblemente
  • The instructions were written incomprehensibly, making it hard for anyone to follow them.

It was the most incomprehensibly, you know, stupid waste of trees ever.

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Examples

  • Unless we embrace those simplified rules, we’d always be facing problems that are incomprehensibly complex; they help us think that things make sense.

    Academic text (1997)
  • The video showed a postman shouting incomprehensibly into the wind and rain.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • The time felt incomprehensibly strange.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • I can feel the world streaming past me... incomprehensibly as it seems to us at our age.

  • For a man who seemed to live dozens of lives in the space of one, that seemed incomprehensibly slow.

    Blog text (20)
  • There he lifted a phone, pushed a button, and spoke rapidly and, to Ryan, incomprehensibly.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • I'd agree that we humans are imperfect, sometimes incomprehensibly so.

    Blog text (18)
  • Maybe the lives of hyper intelligent aliens will look to us incomprehensibly complicated or boring.

  • Yet when the coalition finally decided to act against them, its approach was impromptu and incomprehensibly chaotic.

    Academic text (2004)
  • It wasn't just boring and meandering, but often times incomprehensibly contradictory.

Synonyms

incoherently
vsincomprehensibly
5 6.7

In a way that is not clear or logical

is about being impossible or extremely difficult to understand rather than only illogical
confusingly
vsincomprehensibly
3 4.0

In a way that makes it hard to understand

is stronger and implies near impossibility rather than simple confusion
unintelligibly
vsincomprehensibly
2 8.1

In a way that is very hard to understand

is stronger stressing extreme or total lack of understanding
unfathomably
vsincomprehensibly
1 8.2

In a way that is so great it cannot be understood or believed

is similar but focuses on impossibility without the added surprise
bogglingly
vsincomprehensibly
1 8.4

In a way that is very surprising and hard to understand

is general impossibility or extreme difficulty not necessarily tied to surprise
bewilderingly
vsincomprehensibly
1 8.2

In a confusing way that makes something hard to understand

is more absolute suggesting inability to understand rather than mere confusion
inscrutably
vsincomprehensibly
1 9.6

In a way that hides what someone feels and is hard to understand

is about being impossible or extremely difficult rather than mysterious
bafflingly
vsincomprehensibly
1 7.9

In a way that is hard to understand

is more absolute implying near impossibility rather than strong confusion
confoundingly
vsincomprehensibly
1 8.4

In a way that is very confusing and hard to understand

is stronger implying impossibility rather than merely causing confusion
perplexingly
vsincomprehensibly
1 7.9

In a way that makes something hard to understand

is more absolute stressing extreme difficulty or impossibility to grasp
puzzlingly
vsincomprehensibly
1 6.1

In a way that is confusing and hard to understand

is harsher meaning impossible or extremely difficult rather than merely puzzling
indecipherably
vsincomprehensibly
8.5

So unclear that people cannot read or understand it

is broader covering any extreme difficulty to understand not only reading
undecipherably
vsincomprehensibly
9.8

In a way people cannot read or understand

is the general impossibility to understand beyond mere illegibility
abstrusely
vsincomprehensibly
  • Formal
9.9

In a way that makes something hard to understand

is about being impossible or extremely difficult rather than just complex

Antonyms

In a way people can understand easily

How Understandable

clearly
1.0
unclearly
1 4.4
confusingly
3 4.0
incomprehensibly
2 8.0
inscrutably
1 9.6

Surface Forms

incomprehensibly positive

Morphology

incomprehensibly = incomprehensible (semi-transparent) = in + comprehens + ible + ly

Adding '-ly' to the adjective 'incomprehensible' gives the expected adverb meaning in a fully regular way.

Etymology

The word incomprehensibly begins with in- meaning 'not' and the rest comes from comprehend, an old word that meant 'to grasp', as when you 'grasp' an idea. So, incomprehensibly means 'in a way that cannot be understood'.