incommunicable

adjective

in·​com·​mu·​ni·​ca·​ble ˌin-kə-ˈmyü-ni-kə-bəl 

: not communicable: such as

a

: uncommunicative

b

: incapable of being communicated or imparted

incommunicability

ˌin-kə-ˌmyü-ni-kə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

noun

incommunicably

ˌin-kə-ˈmyü-ni-kə-blē 

adverb

Synonyms

• indefinable
• indescribable
• ineffable
• inenarrable
• inexpressible
• nameless
• uncommunicable
• unspeakable
• unutterable

Examples of incommunicable in a Sentence

the vastness of the universe is incommunicable

Recent Examples on the Web

Piranesi is a mystery, a mystery of the mind, a way for Clarke to communicate the incommunicable. —Jason Kehe, Wired, 21 Sep. 2020

And nothing is more isolating, more incommunicable, than the grief of a parent who has been unable to save their child’s life. —Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2022

In a way, Tiffany’s rendering of fandom as specific and incommunicable risks undermining her premise, which has to do with the massed power of people online. —Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 28 June 2022

Abstract artists, including Alberto Burri, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Jack Whitten and Mark Bradford, all found unique ways to use such materials to conjure the weight of incommunicable things. —Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2021

After more than a decade away, the author is back with Piranesi, a way to communicate the incommunicable. —Jason Kehe, Wired, 21 Sep. 2020

But the works test, in the depths of the incommunicable, the degree of anyone’s courage to envisage the bad in life, the worse, and the almost inconceivably abysmal. —Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2020

In one panel, Mary, at the foot of the cross, makes a recognizable gesture — suggesting grief or astonishment so great, so fundamentally incommunicable, that one covers one’s mouth — similar to that made by Matisse’s central bather. —Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2020

What surprised me was the poetic potential of scurvy, with its awfulness and that terrible sense of isolation, when the possibility of ecstatic delights was inconceivable and incommunicable. —National Geographic, 15 Jan. 2017

Word History

Etymology

Middle French or Late Latin; Middle French, from Late Latin incommunicabilis, from Latin in- + Late Latin communicabilis communicable

First Known Use

1568, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for incommunicable

• communicable

Kids Definition

incommunicable

adjective

in·​com·​mu·​ni·​ca·​ble ˌin-kə-ˈmyü-ni-kə-bəl 

: not capable of being communicated