Standard Lemma guide

indistinguishable

adj · noun · 5 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • [ˌɪn.dɪˈstɪŋ.ɡwɪ.ʃə.bl̩]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 N D IH0 S T IH1 NG G W IH0 SH AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Not distinguishable; not capable of being perceived, known, or discriminated as separate and distinct

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Not capable of being perceived or known.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Any of a set of things that cannot be distinguished.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective

Meaning 4

not capable of being distinguished or differentiated

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the two specimens are actually different from each other but the differences are almost indistinguishable
  • the twins were indistinguishable
  • a colorless person quite indistinguishable from the colorless mass of humanity

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: undistinguishable

Antonyms: distinguishable

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

exactly alike; incapable of being perceived as different

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • rows of identical houses
  • cars identical except for their license plates
  • they wore indistinguishable hats

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: identical

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- English distinguish Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-dhlom Proto-Indo-European *-dhlis Proto-Italic *-ðlis Latin -bilis Latin -ābilis Old French -ablebor. Middle English -able English -able English distinguishable English indistinguishable From in- + distinguishable.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: нераспазнавальны (njeraspaznavalʹny) — not distinguishable
  • Belarusian: неадметны (njeadmjetny) — not distinguishable
  • Bulgarian: неразличим (nerazličim) — not distinguishable
  • Catalan: indistingible — not distinguishable
  • Czech: nerozlišitelný — not distinguishable
  • Dutch: ononderscheidbaar — not distinguishable
  • Dutch: niet te onderscheiden — not distinguishable
  • Finnish: mahdoton erottaa — not distinguishable
  • French: indistinguable — not distinguishable
  • French: indistinguible — not distinguishable
  • Galician: indistinguible — not distinguishable
  • Galician: indistinguíbel — not distinguishable
  • Georgian: განუსხვავებელი (ganusxvavebeli) — not distinguishable
  • Greek: πανομοιότυπος (panomoiótypos) — not distinguishable
  • Greek: ολόιδιος (olóidios) — not distinguishable
  • Greek: φτυστός (ftystós) — not distinguishable
  • Hungarian: megkülönböztethetetlen — not distinguishable
  • Polish: nieodróżnialny — not distinguishable
  • Portuguese: indistinguível — not distinguishable
  • Romanian: indistingibil — not distinguishable
  • Romanian: nedistingibil — not distinguishable
  • Russian: неразличи́мый (nerazličímyj) — not distinguishable
  • Spanish: indistinguible — not distinguishable
Real reading context

indistinguishable in complete knowledge articles