What does inscrutability mean?
Inscrutability is the quality of being difficult or impossible to understand. The word is especially associated with people whose motives, feelings, or behavior resist interpretation, but it can also describe mysterious texts, events, problems, and aspects of nature. In “the inscrutability of the ocean,” for example, the emphasis is not simply that the ocean is large or powerful, but that its depths and processes cannot be fully comprehended. The term has a formal, literary quality and often carries a sense of enduring mystery or philosophical depth. It is more intellectual and elevated than simple unfamiliarity: something may be inscrutable because it is deliberately concealed, but it may also be inscrutable because its nature lies beyond human understanding.
nounThe quality of being inscrutable, especially of a person, situation, or subject that is difficult to understand or interpret.
- The state or quality of being impossible or exceptionally difficult to understand, interpret, or explain.
"The inscrutability of the ancient text continued to frustrate scholars."
"Her inscrutability made it difficult for the audience to know what she was thinking."
"The inscrutability of the problem remained even after several years of research."
The plural is grammatical but uncommon, since inscrutability is normally used as an uncountable abstract noun.
"The novel explores the inscrutabilities of memory."
Inscrutability names the particular power of a subject to resist explanation—not simply being hidden, but remaining mysterious even to careful scrutiny.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does inscrutability come from?
Inscrutability derives from the adjective inscrutable, which entered English in the early modern period. Its source is Latin inscrutabilis, formed with the negative prefix in- and a form related to scrutinari, meaning “to investigate” or “examine carefully.” The related English words scrutiny and scrutinize preserve the same tradition of close examination, so inscrutability literally suggests an inability to discover the meaning through investigation.
Related word forms
How inscrutability is actually used
Formal and literary. It often describes people, motives, texts, mysteries, or the workings of nature, and can suggest that something is beyond ordinary understanding rather than merely complicated.
Easily confused with inscrutability
Inscrutability means being difficult to understand, whereas invisibility means being unable to be seen.
Inscrutability emphasizes difficulty of interpretation or understanding, while intricacy emphasizes complexity of structure.