unrecognizableadj.
/(ˌ)ʌnˈrɛkəɡnʌɪzəbl/, /ˌʌnrɛkəɡˈnʌɪzəbl/, U.S. /ˌənˌrɛkə(ɡ)ˈnaɪzəb(ə)l/ Not recognizable; spec. not able to be recognized or identified from previous encounters.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective]
higheOE
dighela1000
deepc1000
darkOE
starkOE
dusk?c1225
subtle1340
dimc1350
subtilea1393
covert1393
mystica1398
murka1400
cloudyc1400
hard?c1400
mistyc1400
unclearc1400
diffuse1430
abstractc1450
diffused?1456
exquisitec1460
obnubilous?a1475
obscure?a1475
covered1484
intricate?a1500
nice?a1500
perplexeda1500
difficilea1513
difficult1530
privy1532
smoky1533
secret1535
abstruse?1549
difficul1552
entangled1561
confounded1572
darksome1574
obnubilate1575
enigmatical1576
confuse1577
mysteriousa1586
Delphic1598
obfuscatea1600
enfumed1601
Delphicala1603
obstruse1604
abstracted1605
confused1611
questionable1611
inevident1614
recondite1619
cryptic1620
obfuscated1620
transcendent1624
Delphian1625
oraculous1625
enigmatic1628
recluse1629
abdite1635
undilucidated1635
clouded1641
benighted1647
oblite1650
researched1653
obnubilated1658
obscurative1664
tenebrose1677
hyperbyssal1691
condite1695
diffusive1709
profound1710
tenebricose1730
oracular1749
opaque1761
unenlightening1768
darkling1795
offuscating1798
unrecognizable1817
tough1820
abstrusive1848
obscurant1878
out-of-focus1891
unplumbable1895
inenubilable1903
non-transparent1939
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biographia Literaria II. 83 When a number of successive lines can be rendered..unrecognizable as verse,..by simply transcribing them as prose.
1847 Ld. Lindsay Sketches Hist. Christian Art I. p. cxlii He returned so disfigured.., that he was unrecognisable save by his voice.
1901 Wide World Mag. 6 458/2 Almost unrecognisable from snow-tan and exposure.
1986 K. Ishiguro Artist of Floating World 205 The area has now been rebuilt and has become quite unrecognizable.
2009 Arts & Bk. Rev. (Nexis) 2 Oct. 6 Holbein chose to anamorphose the skull in the foreground into an initially unrecognisable smear.
Derivatives
ˌunrecogˈnizableness n. the fact or quality of being unrecognizable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun]
deepnessa1000
subtletya1387
difficultyc1405
mistiheadc1425
darknessc1450
obscurity1474
profoundnessc1475
obscureness1509
profundity1559
perplexity1563
opacity1575
darksomeness1583
perplexednessa1586
deptha1593
spinosity1605
abstruseness1628
abstrusity1649
inevidence1673
enigmaticalness1684
dark1699
indistinctness1704
confusion1729
reconditeness1779
obfuscity1832
oracularity1840
irrecognizability1847
recondity1856
unrecognizableness1865
crypticity1892
1865 C. T. Brooks tr. J. P. F. Richter Hesperus I. viii. 131 The narrow defamers of metaphors..ascribe to the coloring the unrecognizableness of the drawing.
1883 H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spiritual World 303 One of the most recognisable characteristics of life is its unrecognisableness.
1997 Amer. Lit. 69 125 This torque between ‘familiarity’ and unrecognizableness energizes an important narrative tension.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2014; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
adj.1817