indigestible

/ˌˈɪndəˌdʒɛstəbəl/

Other forms: indigestibly

If you've ever eaten something that your body couldn't break down and absorb, it was indigestible. Certain edible but indigestible substances are essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system.

Many healthy plant foods are full of indigestible matter called dietary fiber. Our bodies lack the enzymes needed to fully break it down. This indigestible bulk helps move food through the digestive system and supports the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut. The term now also figuratively describes information or concepts that are very difficult, or impossible, to understand or "absorb" mentally — such as the dense jargon in legal documents.

Definitions of indigestible

1. adjective

   (physiology) describing a substance that the body cannot break down, or that is difficult to break down and absorb into the bloodstream
   synonyms:

   inedible, uneatable

   not suitable for food

   flatulent

   generating excessive gas in the alimentary canal

   heavy

   dense or inadequately leavened and hence likely to cause distress in the alimentary canal

   nondigestible

   not digestible

   undigested

   not digested

   stodgy

   heavy and starchy and hard to digest

   antonyms:

   digestible

   capable of being converted into assimilable condition in the alimentary canal

   comestible, eatable, edible

   suitable for use as food

   assimilable

   able to be absorbed and incorporated into body tissues

   light

   easily assimilated in the alimentary canal; not rich or heavily seasoned

   predigested

   artificially partially digested as by enzymatic action
2. adjective

   describing information or concepts that are impossible or difficult to understand or absorb mentally