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incomprehensible

incomprehensible

46 8.8
Difficult or impossible to understand
  • adjective
  • /ˌɪnkəmˈprɛhənsəbl/
translation icon : incomprensible
  • The complex instructions were so incomprehensible that many students gave up trying to follow them.
  • seem incomprehensible
  • utterly incomprehensible
  • remain incomprehensible

And it's completely incomprehensible to the people back then.

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Examples

  • Normally, discussion of this subject is incomprehensible to people who are not involved in international taxation.

    Academic text (1999)
  • The idea of exclusive loyalty to one religion is rather foreign and incomprehensible to most people.

    Academic text (1999)
  • I think we live in an incomprehensible present.

  • But now it seemed that even my flight from her fit into some incomprehensible design.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • When it comes to love, Jacks is completely incomprehensible.

  • To a distant public, such conflicts may seem inevitable, incomprehensible, and impossible to resolve.

    Academic text (1996)
  • The recent history of Indonesia is incomprehensible without reference to the country's geography of religion.

    Academic text (2000)
  • There is real otherness in the Trinity, and incomprehensible communion too.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Albert Einstein also once said the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.

  • Hector sits quietly with a smile on his face, their chatter incomprehensible to him.

    Fiction book (1993)

Synonyms

unintelligible
vsincomprehensible
8.6

Not clear enough to understand

can also mean very hard to grasp rather than completely impossible
confusing
vsincomprehensible
276 3.2

Hard to understand and makes people feel unsure

is used for general difficulty following ideas, not full inability to grasp meaning
inexplicable
vsincomprehensible
47 7.8

Hard to explain or understand

is focused on inability to explain reasons rather than wording or form
baffling
vsincomprehensible
27 6.4

Hard to understand and causing confusion

is a looser term for difficulty without claiming total impossibility
unfathomable
vsincomprehensible
23 8.6

Very hard to understand or measure how deep something is

emphasizes lacking understanding, not necessarily the deep or hidden aspect
unexplainable
vsincomprehensible
19 7.0

Something people cannot understand or find a clear reason for

highlights lack of understanding rather than simply failing to give reasons
perplexing
vsincomprehensible
16 6.7

Making people feel confused because it is hard to understand

is similar but often points to a mental challenge, not complete inability to make sense
impenetrable
vsincomprehensible
14 8.3

Very hard to understand

is the general way to say something is hard to make sense of
bewildering
vsincomprehensible
13 5.2

Causing a lot of confusion and making things hard to understand

describes trouble understanding rather than absolute inability to make meaning
inscrutable
vsincomprehensible
12 8.9

Hard to understand because it shows no clear meaning or feeling

is the plain statement of not understanding rather than mysterious quality
hard to follow
vsincomprehensible
9 6.4

Difficult to understand

is stronger, signifying near impossibility or extreme inability to grasp
indecipherable
vsincomprehensible
8 8.8

Too hard to read or understand

refers to inability to grasp meaning in any form, not just reading
undecipherable
vsincomprehensible
1 9.1

Very hard to read or understand

covers lack of understanding in other areas beyond written code or text
ungraspable
vsincomprehensible
1 8.6

Difficult to understand even after thinking about it

is the broader label used when extreme difficulty, not total impossibility
uninterpretable
vsincomprehensible
1 8.2

Not possible to understand or explain

is applied more widely, not only to single obscure examples
unsearchable
vsincomprehensible
1 7.6

Hard to know what someone thinks or feels

applies to any unreadable situation, not only inner feelings or thoughts
inapprehensible
vsincomprehensible
9.9

Hard to understand or explain

is the common form that covers both impossibility and extreme difficulty
uncomprehensible
vsincomprehensible
  • Informal
9.9

Very hard to understand

is the standard adjective used for the same sense of lack of understanding
incognoscible
vsincomprehensible
  • Archaic
9.9

Not possible for people to know or understand

focuses on not understanding rather than on complete inability to be known
unscannable
vsincomprehensible
8.4

Difficult to read from a person's face or behavior

is more general and covers meaning problems beyond personal expressions

Antonyms

Easy to understand

How Understandable

clear
1.0
understandable
171 1.6
confusing
276 3.2
unclear
207 3.9
incomprehensible
46 8.8
inscrutable
12 8.9

Surface Forms

incomprehensible positive
incomprehensibler comparative
incomprehensiblest superlative

Morphology

incomprehensible = comprehensible (semi-transparent) = in + comprehend + ible

The negative prefix 'in-' combines straightforwardly with 'comprehensible' to mean 'not comprehensible'.

Etymology

The word incomprehensible begins with in- meaning 'not' and the part comprehend means 'to understand' and comes from a word that meant 'to grasp'. So incomprehensible is something you cannot 'grasp' with your mind, which is why it means impossible or very hard to understand.