inexplicable

English

Alternative forms

unexplicable (uncommon)

Etymology

From Middle English inexplicable, from Middle French inexplicable, from Latin inexplicābilis, from in- (“not”) +‎ explicābilis (“explicable”).^[1] By surface analysis, in- +‎ explicable.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌɪn.ɪkˈsplɪ.kə.bl̩/, /ɪnˈɛk.splɪ.kə.bəl/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Adjective

inexplicable (comparative more inexplicable, superlative most inexplicable)

Impossible to explain; not easily accounted for.
Synonyms: inexplainable, unexplainable, insoluble; see also Thesaurus:incomprehensible

Antonyms: explicable; see also Thesaurus:comprehensible
- 1873, Jules Verne, chapter I, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part I, page 3:
  The year 1866 was signalised by a remarkable incident, a mysterious and inexplicable phenomenon, which doubtless no one has yet forgotten.
- 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 106:
  “No,” replied the girl, “it would not be strange, of course; but for some inexplicable reason I have one of those foolish feminine presentiments that all is not right with Mr. Caldwell. It is the strangest feeling—it is as though I knew that he was not on board the ship.”

Derived terms

Translations

impossible to explain

Albanian: i pashpjegueshëm (sq)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Asturian: inesplicable
Belarusian: невытлумача́льны (njevytlumačálʹny)
Bulgarian: необясни́м (bg) (neobjasním)
Catalan: inexplicable (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 不能說明的 / 不能说明的 (bùnéng shuōmíng de)
Czech: nevysvětlitelný (cs)
Danish: uforklarlig
Dutch: onverklaarbaar (nl)
Esperanto: neklarigebla
Finnish: selittämätön, käsittämätön (fi)
French: inexplicable (fr)
Galician: inexplicable (gl), inexplicábel (gl)
German: unerklärlich (de)
Greek: ανεξήγητος (el) (anexígitos)
Ancient Greek: δύσφραστος (dúsphrastos)
Hungarian: megmagyarázhatatlan (hu)
Icelandic: óútskýranlegur
Italian: inspiegabile (it), incomprensibile (it), inesplicabile (it)
Japanese: 割り切れない (わりきれない, warikirenai), 不可解な (ja) (ふかかいな, fukakai na), 説明がつかない (ja) (せつめいがつかない, setsumei ga tsukanai)
Korean: 불가해하다 (bulgahaehada), 설명할 수 없다 (seolmyeonghal su eopda)
Latin: inēnōdābilis
Lithuanian: nesuprantamas
Macedonian: необјаснив (neobjasniv)
Manx: neuhoilsheydagh, neureaghee
Norwegian:
Bokmål: uforklarlig

Nynorsk: uforklarleg, uforklårleg
Occitan: inexplicable (oc)
Old English: unāreccendlīċ
Polish: niewytłumaczalny (pl)
Portuguese: inexplicável (pt)
Romanian: inexplicabil (ro), neexplicabil
Russian: необъясни́мый (ru) (neobʺjasnímyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: необја̀шњив

Latin: neobjàšnjiv (sh)
Slovak: nevysvetliteľný
Slovene: nerazložljiv
Spanish: inexplicable
Swedish: oförklarlig (sv)
Thai: ที่อธิบาย ไม่ได้ (tîi à-tí-baai mâi-dâi)
Turkish: açıklanamaz
Ukrainian: непоясни́мий (nepojasnýmyj), непоясне́нний (nepojasnénnyj)
Welsh: anesboniadwy (cy)

Noun

inexplicable (plural inexplicables)

Something that is impossible to explain.
Synonym: inexplicability
- 1656, Tho[mas] Stanley, “[Cleanthes.] Chap[ter] III. His Writings.”, in The History of Philosophy, the Second Volume, volume II, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring: […], →OCLC, 8th part (Containing the Stoick Philosophers), pages 127–128:
  HEE [Cleanthes] left behind him (ſaith [Diogenes] Laertius) theſe excellent Books. […] Of Inexplicables.
- 2000, Wally Phillips, “Foreword”, in Vicki Quade, I Remember Bob Collins, Champaign, Ill.: Bannon Multimedia Group, →ISBN, page vi:
  The premature passing of Bob Collins and the sadness it begets leave us in wonder. A man of vigor and vitality, compassion and concern, and a joyous contributor enhancing each new day is suddenly no more. Or is that also conjecture or gospel? Could it be that his departure is but a chapter in the imponderable mystery we long to comprehend? An inexplicable that cannot be perceived?
- 2001, Ann Zwinger, “Fall Colors, Gifts of Glory”, in Anthony Eaton Cook, Fall Colors across North America, Portland, Ore.: Graphic Arts Center Publishing, →ISBN, page 30:
  Each clone acts as a huge, undivided tree, with its own time of flushing spring leaves, of turning yellow, and its own shade of yellow that can vary from lemon to salmon to an occasional sandy red, the color change defining the margins of each clone. The contrasting colors depend on variations in soil chemistry, slope exposure, genetic makeup, and a grab bag of inexplicables that bless trees, growing so closely that their upper branches may touch, with smartly different colors.
- 2001, Salman Rushdie, chapter 1, in Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 10:
  Her proposition was that at the heart of each of the great tragedies were unanswerable questions about love, and, to make sense of the plays, we must each attempt to explicate these inexplicables in our own way.