inexplicable
nounEtymology From Middle English inexplicable, from Middle French inexplicable, from Latin inexplicābilis, from in- (“not”) + explicābilis (“explicable”). By surface analysis, in- + explicable.
1
Something that is impossible to explain.
- HEE [Cleanthes] left behind him (ſaith [Diogenes] Laertius) theſe excellent Books. […] Of Inexplicables.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:
- 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?2000, Wally Phillips, “Foreword”, in Vicki Quade, I Remember Bob Collins, Champaign, Ill.: Bannon Multimedia Group, →ISBN, page vi:
2 more examples
- 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, 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:
- 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.2001, Salman Rushdie, chapter 1, in Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 10: