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.
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
But aside from hinting that there might be more gigs in the future, the reliably inscrutable singer did not fall for the bait of follow-up questions and left it at that.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2025
Climate fiction is one reason ‘dystopian realism’ is increasingly ‘near-future’ rather than set in some inscrutable distant time.
—Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
Oddly, the end result is that Levy comes off as even more distant and inscrutable than William.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
When the children’s bus reached the checkpoint to enter Israel, a soldier told the teacher that Khaled was barred from entering, an inscrutable dictate of the authorities.
—Gershom Gorenberg, The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inscrutable
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Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2025
Climate fiction is one reason ‘dystopian realism’ is increasingly ‘near-future’ rather than set in some inscrutable distant time.
—Literary Hub, 6 Oct. 2025
Oddly, the end result is that Levy comes off as even more distant and inscrutable than William.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 3 Oct. 2025
When the children’s bus reached the checkpoint to enter Israel, a soldier told the teacher that Khaled was barred from entering, an inscrutable dictate of the authorities.
—Gershom Gorenberg, The Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inscrutable
Cite this Entry
“Inscrutable.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inscrutable. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
inscrutable
adjective
in·scru·ta·ble
in-ˈskrüt-ə-bəl
: not easily understood : mysterious
an inscrutable expression
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