Unintelligibility
Unintelligibility
#519. Unintelligibility. -- N. unintelligibility; incomprehensibility,
imperspicuity[obs]; inconceivableness, vagueness &c. adj.; obscurity;
ambiguity &c. 520; doubtful meaning; uncertainty &c. 475; perplexity &c.
(confusion) 59; spinosity[obs]; obscurum per obscurius[Lat]; mystification
&c. (concealment) 528; latency &c. 526; transcendentalism.
- paradox, oxymoron; riddle, enigma, puzzle &c. (secret) 533; diagnus
vindice nodus[Lat]; sealed book; steganography[obs], freemasonry.
- pons asinorum[Lat], asses' bridge; high Dutch, Greek, Hebrew; jargon
&c. (unmeaning) 517.
- V. be unintelligible &c. adj.; require explanation &c. 522; have a
doubtful meaning, pass comprehension.
- render unintelligible &c. adj.; conceal &c. 528; darken &c. 421;
confuse &c. (derange) 61; perplex &c. (bewilder)
475.
- not understand &c. 518; lose, lose the clue; miss; not know what to
make of, be able to make nothing of, give it up; not be able to account
for, not be able to make either head or tail of; be at sea &c. (uncertain)
475; wonder &c. 870; see through a glass darkly &c. (ignorance) 491.
- not understand one another; play at cross purposes &c. (misinterpret)
523.
- Adj. unintelligible, unaccountable, undecipherable, undiscoverable,
unknowable, unfathomable; incognizable[obs], inexplicable, inscrutable;
inapprehensible[obs], incomprehensible; insolvable[obs], insoluble;
impenetrable.
- illegible, as Greek to one, unexplained, paradoxical; enigmatic,
enigmatical, puzzling (secret) 533; indecipherable.
- obscure, dark, muddy, clear as mud, seen through a mist, dim,
nebulous, shrouded in mystery; ; opaque, dense; undiscernible &c.
(invisible) 447[obs]; misty &c. (opaque) 426; hidden &c. 528; latent &c
526.
- indefinite, garbled &c. (indistinct) 447; perplexed &c. (confused) 59;
undetermined, vague, loose, ambiguous; mysterious; mystic, mystical;
acroamatic[obs], acroamatical[obs]; metempirical; transcendental; occult,
recondite, abstruse, crabbed.
- inconceivable, inconceptible[obs]; searchless[obs]; above
comprehension, beyond comprehension, past comprehension; beyond one's
depth; unconceived.
- inexpressible, undefinable, incommunicable.
- unpredictable, unforeseeable.
- Phr. it's Greek to me.