Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Difficult to understand or interpret; impenetrable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Incapable of being searched into or scrutinized; impenetrable to inquiry or investigation; incognizable: as, the ways of Providence are often inscrutable.
  • Synonyms Impenetrable, undiscoverable, incomprehensible, unsearchable, mysterious.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Unsearchable; incapable of being searched into and understood by inquiry or study; impossible or difficult to be explained or accounted for satisfactorily; obscure; incomprehensible.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom, or interpret.
  • noun One who or that which is inscrutable; a person, etc. that cannot be comprehended.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of an obscure nature

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin īnscrūtābilis : in-, not; see in– + scrūtārī, to scrutinize; see scrutiny.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin inscrutabilis, from in- ("not") + scrutare ("to examine"), corresponding to in- +‎ scrutable

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Examples

  • She turned to find him still standing in the exact same spot, his expression inscrutable.

    The Devil Wears Plaid Teresa Medeiros 2010

  • His stark blue eyes were locked on her, his expression inscrutable.

    The Year of Living Scandalously Julia London 2010

  • Jamie gazed down at her, his expression inscrutable.

    The Devil Wears Plaid Teresa Medeiros 2010

  • His stark blue eyes were locked on her, his expression inscrutable.

    The Year of Living Scandalously Julia London 2010

  • “My path is clear to me,” he said, his expression inscrutable.

    Kresley Cole Immortals After Dark: The Clan MacRieve Kresley Cole 2010

  • She was watching me, her expression inscrutable, somehow aloof and intimate all at once.

    The Legacy Kirsten Tranter 2010

  • He gazed down at her, black lashes partially obscuring obsidian eyes, their expression inscrutable.

    My Devilish Scotsman Jen Holling 2005

  • She tried to imagine how Giovanni would look now, but all she could see was Marco across the table, his handsome face impassive, his expression inscrutable.

    That’s Amore Carol Grace 2003

  • He began to think that perhaps the word "inscrutable" had been coined expressly for her.

    Home Is the Hunter Dana Kramer-Rolls 2000

  • She sat next to him at the bar, her expression inscrutable, looking crisp and as cool as her coloring would allow in pale trousers and a cinnamon cotton shirt.

    All Shall Be Well Deborah Darden Crombie 1994

Comments

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  • Those Catholic girls liked to tease, but without a ring they were inscrutable

    November 6, 2009

  • Good one!

    November 7, 2009