inscrutable
/ɪnˈskruːtəb(ə)l
/adjective
Impossible to understand or interpret: Guy looked blankly inscrutable...
- An inscrutable and incomparably powerful force permeates the Universe and binds it together.
- It is not some mysterious, inscrutable relation that beliefs bear to facts, whatever they might be.
- There is something inscrutable about the dragon, something that cannot be understood.
Synonyms
enigmatic, unreadable, impenetrable, mysterious, impossible to interpret, cryptic;
unexpressive, inexpressive, emotionless, unemotional, expressionless, impassive, blank, vacant, deadpan, dispassionate
informal poker-faced
mysterious, inexplicable, unexplainable, incomprehensible, beyond comprehension, beyond understanding, impossible to understand, unintelligible, impenetrable, unfathomable, fathomless, opaque, puzzling, perplexing, baffling, bewildering, confusing, abstruse, arcane, obscure
literary sibylline
archaic wildering
Derivatives
inscrutability
/ noun ...- He stopped and turned back to look at her, not with a quizzical expression because he was trained not to display his emotions but with a stony face of impenetrable inscrutability.
- McQueen's beautiful, monosyllabic, slightly smug inscrutability is exemplified in his two major roles of 1968, the millionaire thief Thomas Crown and the almost silent cop Frank Bullitt.
- This kind of self-indulgent wordplay will probably delight those readers who equate inscrutability with intelligence, but it will deeply annoy those who simply want to understand.
inscrutably
/ adverb ...- Is it among the ones we see on television each night - the inscrutably hard mask of the professional soldier or the sharp eyes that a rebel's disguise cannot conceal?
- Some passages verge on the inscrutably cryptic.
- But the other fascinating thing about the movie is that the South is portrayed as both inscrutably evil, and attractive.
inscrutableness
Origin
Late Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin inscrutabilis, from in- 'not' + scrutari 'to search' (see scrutiny).
Inscrutable is from ecclesiastical Latin inscrutabilis, from in- ‘not’ and scrutari ‘to search’ also found in scrutiny (Late Middle English).