inscrutable
adjective
in·scru·ta·ble
in-ˈskrü-tə-bəl 
: not readily investigated, interpreted, or understood : mysterious
an inscrutable smile
inscrutable motives
Did you know?
Scrutinizing the inscrutable may be futile: even close scrutiny can fail to decipher it. Scrutinizing the scrutable, on the other hand, is likely to yield some understanding. All of these scrut- words have the same Latin root: scrutari, meaning “to search or examine.” While scrutiny, scrutinize, and inscrutable all prove themselves useful in everyday discourse, English speakers don’t tend to call much on scrutable, which functions as a synonym of comprehensible.
Synonyms
Examples of inscrutable in a Sentence
Supersymmetry is a magic mirror, and everything in what we imagine to be the real world has its ghostly, inscrutable mirror image.
—
Ian Stewart, Prospect, September 2003
Of all the myths that have grown up around Alan Greenspan, the most powerful is the idea that he's willfully inscrutable.
—James Surowiecki, New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2001
That wily politicians might adopt Franklin's distinction between appearance and reality to become inscrutable confidence men did not seem to trouble him.
—John H. Summers, Journal of American History, December 2000
an inscrutable work of art
He was a quiet, inscrutable man.
Ian Stewart, Prospect, September 2003
Of all the myths that have grown up around Alan Greenspan, the most powerful is the idea that he's willfully inscrutable.
—James Surowiecki, New Yorker, 22 Jan. 2001
That wily politicians might adopt Franklin's distinction between appearance and reality to become inscrutable confidence men did not seem to trouble him.
—John H. Summers, Journal of American History, December 2000
an inscrutable work of art
He was a quiet, inscrutable man.
Recent Examples on the Web
All the while, the heroic couple was dogged by not just a team of lovebird assassins, but an inscrutable bunch of White House bigwigs.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 13 Dec. 2024
Not as important: a giant clam and the inscrutable Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) who may or may not be working for the evil Nalo.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 26 Nov. 2024
With an inscrutable painting, René Magritte – the Belgian Surrealist painter – breaks a nine-figure threshold at Christie’s fall auction.
—Alex Marshall, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024
Though far from a household name, VeriSign takes in about $1.5 billion in revenue each year for servicing its particular section of the internet’s inscrutable plumbing.
—Joel Khalili, WIRED, 22 Nov. 2024
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Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 13 Dec. 2024
Not as important: a giant clam and the inscrutable Matangi (Awhimai Fraser) who may or may not be working for the evil Nalo.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 26 Nov. 2024
With an inscrutable painting, René Magritte – the Belgian Surrealist painter – breaks a nine-figure threshold at Christie’s fall auction.
—Alex Marshall, New York Times, 25 Nov. 2024
Though far from a household name, VeriSign takes in about $1.5 billion in revenue each year for servicing its particular section of the internet’s inscrutable plumbing.
—Joel Khalili, WIRED, 22 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for inscrutable
Dictionary Entries Near inscrutable
Cite this Entry
“Inscrutable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inscrutable. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.
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inscrutable
adjective
in·scru·ta·ble
in-ˈskrüt-ə-bəl
: not easily understood : mysterious
an inscrutable expression
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