1
as in surreal
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2
as in incomprehensible
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Recent Examples of Kafkaesque
Obtaining a permit to fly a drone in Nepal as a foreigner was a somewhat Kafkaesque exercise in patience.
—
Ben Ayers, Outside Online, 6 May 2025
These are intentional Kafkaesque problems that the Trump Administration is creating.
—Grace Byron, New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2025
No one wants to have their family vacation turned into some Kafkaesque nightmare at the hands of ICE agents emboldened by the country's general climate of incipient fascism.
—Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Apr. 2025
That standard was used to suppress the speech of faculty, such as Northwestern professor Laura Kipnis, who in a Kafkaesque turn was the subject of a legal complaint by students under Title IX for writing an op-ed column criticizing the Obama view of Title IX.
—The Editors, National Review, 16 Apr. 2025
In a particularly Kafkaesque explanation for why some of the Venezuelan migrants who have no criminal records were targeted for arrest and deportation, government lawyers argued in court that their lack of a criminal record is in itself cause for concern.
—Nisha Whitehead, Oc Register, 28 Mar. 2025
But Ned was declared dead last month by the Social Security Administration, which led him and his wife on a Kafkaesque quest to prove there’s life left in this salty old Seattle seadog yet.
—Matthew J. Friedman, CNN, 21 Mar. 2025
This Kafkaesque saga began late Friday, when President Donald Trump quietly signed an order availing himself of a wartime authority to carry out the mass deportations.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025
This defiant and entertaining work playfully uses headshots and avatars to visualize clandestine audio recordings documenting years of Kafkaesque impositions, threats, and vital dissident art.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 10 Feb. 2025
Ben Ayers, Outside Online, 6 May 2025
These are intentional Kafkaesque problems that the Trump Administration is creating.
—Grace Byron, New Yorker, 29 Apr. 2025
No one wants to have their family vacation turned into some Kafkaesque nightmare at the hands of ICE agents emboldened by the country's general climate of incipient fascism.
—Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Apr. 2025
That standard was used to suppress the speech of faculty, such as Northwestern professor Laura Kipnis, who in a Kafkaesque turn was the subject of a legal complaint by students under Title IX for writing an op-ed column criticizing the Obama view of Title IX.
—The Editors, National Review, 16 Apr. 2025
In a particularly Kafkaesque explanation for why some of the Venezuelan migrants who have no criminal records were targeted for arrest and deportation, government lawyers argued in court that their lack of a criminal record is in itself cause for concern.
—Nisha Whitehead, Oc Register, 28 Mar. 2025
But Ned was declared dead last month by the Social Security Administration, which led him and his wife on a Kafkaesque quest to prove there’s life left in this salty old Seattle seadog yet.
—Matthew J. Friedman, CNN, 21 Mar. 2025
This Kafkaesque saga began late Friday, when President Donald Trump quietly signed an order availing himself of a wartime authority to carry out the mass deportations.
—Philip Elliott, TIME, 17 Mar. 2025
This defiant and entertaining work playfully uses headshots and avatars to visualize clandestine audio recordings documenting years of Kafkaesque impositions, threats, and vital dissident art.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 10 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for Kafkaesque
Adjective
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By Robert Kagan The current debate over bombing Iran is surreal.—
Robert Kagan,
The Atlantic,
21 June 2025
-
Each puzzle piece features a surreal image, difficult to decipher.—
Joan MacDonald,
Forbes.com,
17 June 2025
Adjective
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In a brittle, anxious, nonlinear, incomprehensible (BANI) world where change is the only constant, the leadership traits that once earned respect—tenacity, decisiveness and stoicism—are no longer enough.—
Arthi Rabikrisson,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2025
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Each episode represents an hour in the staff’s frenetic, 15-hour day that culminates with a mass casualty shooting and an incomprehensible case of the measles involving an unvaccinated child.—
Lynette Rice,
Deadline,
12 June 2025
Adjective
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That can mean anything from unusual cuts to stones acquired for imperfection rather than perfection such as the 27.83-carat Paraíba tourmaline with an interesting pattern of inclusions on the Chain Drop necklace.—
Paige Reddinger,
Robb Report,
20 June 2025
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Now, another unusual way to grab hiring managers attention is going viral: Sneaking your resume into a box of donuts.—
Orianna Rosa Royle,
Fortune,
20 June 2025
Adjective
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Boca una locura; a mad, inexplicable, head’s-gone kind of thing.—
James Horncastle,
New York Times,
16 June 2025
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Trump entered negotiations to end the war in Ukraine by presenting Putin with a bouquet of inexplicable concessions.—
Andrew Ryvkin,
The Atlantic,
16 June 2025
Adjective
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It’s been reopened in chunks, thanks to the unrelenting optimism and irrational persistence of a corps of downtown residents led by Rodriguez and Rosa Chang.—
Justin Davidson,
Curbed,
16 June 2025
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On the other hand, especially given that the vote was still restricted to only a small minority of propertied men, the rise of party politics itself sharpened the age-old mistrust of popular judgment as irrational and easily swayed—especially by lies.—
Fara Dabhoiwala,
Harpers Magazine,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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Just as Natalia was starting her journalism career, the executives who controlled the industry were working to reinvent how daily newspapers operated — at the expense of an almost unfathomable number of journalists.—
Megan Greenwell,
Rolling Stone,
5 June 2025
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The concept is wild, but not completely unfathomable.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2025
Adjective
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Read more: How to Manage Your Climate Guilt Meanwhile, the same system has given rise to what can only be described as illogical trade—the global exchange of identical products, where countries import and export the same foods, often across vast distances.—
Nathalie Kelley,
Time,
17 June 2025
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That nobody has to this point is illogical, particularly in light of the fees being committed to transfers in the European market.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
17 June 2025
Adjective
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In a life-or-death emergency, voice signals might fade or be unintelligible; Morse code could punch through static and bad weather.—
Laurie Gwen Shapiro,
New Yorker,
2 June 2025
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Decisions once made by human engineers in the future are now being executed by models whose internal logic may be unintelligible even to their creators.—
Anuj Tyagi,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Kafkaesque.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Kafkaesque. Accessed 28 Jun. 2025.
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