Standard Lemma guide

incomprehensibility

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The quality or state of being incomprehensible.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Something that cannot be understood.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the quality of being incomprehensible

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: comprehensibility

Broader terms: quality

Narrower terms: inscrutability, illegibility, impenetrability, impenetrableness, noise, opacity, opaqueness, obscureness, obscurity, abstruseness, reconditeness, unintelligibility, unclearness

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in- Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Italic *kom Proto-Italic *kom- Latin con- Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh2- Proto-Indo-European *-i Proto-Indo-European *préh2i? Proto-Italic *prai Proto-Italic *prai- Proto-Indo-European *ghed- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *ghnédti Proto-Italic *hendō Proto-Italic *praiɣendō Latin prehendō Latin comprehendō Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dhlom Proto-Indo-European *-dhlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin comprehēnsibilis Latin incomprehēnsibilisbor. Middle French incomprehensibleder. English incomprehensible Proto-Indo-European *-teh2 Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh2ts Latin -itāsder. Old French -itebor. Middle English -ite English -ity English incomprehensibility From incomprehensible + -ity.

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: käsittämättömyys — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Finnish: vaikeaselkoisuus — condition of being incomprehensible
  • French: incompréhensibilité — condition of being incomprehensible
  • German: Unverständlichkeit — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Hungarian: felfoghatatlanság — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Hungarian: érthetetlenség — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Indonesian: sifat tdk dimengerti — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Indonesian: sifat tdk terpahamkan — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Pannonian Rusyn: нєрозумлївосц (njerozumljivosc) — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Pannonian Rusyn: нєпохоплївосц (njepoxopljivosc) — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Pannonian Rusyn: нєясносц (njejasnosc) — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Polish: zagadkowość — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Polish: niezrozumiałość — condition of being incomprehensible
  • Scottish Gaelic: do-thuigsinneachd — condition of being incomprehensible