inexplicable

/ɪnɛkˈsplɪkəbəl/

/ɪnɛksˈplɪkəbəl/

Other forms: inexplicably

Something inexplicable can't be explained. It doesn't make sense. You don't want to come to the beach on the most beautiful day of the year? That's inexplicable!

Inexplicable is made up of the prefix in, which means "not," and explicable, which comes from the Latin explicabilis, meaning "unfolded, unraveled." Do you see the double negative? If something is not unfolded, it's folded up and tangled — like something that doesn't make sense. Your school's decision to call a snow day is inexplicable, if there's barely a layer of snow on the ground.

Definitions of inexplicable

1. adjective

   incapable of being explained or accounted for
   “inexplicable errors”

   “left the house at three in the morning for inexplicable reasons”

   synonyms: incomprehensible

   incomprehensible, uncomprehensible

   difficult to understand

   cryptic, cryptical, deep, inscrutable, mysterious, mystifying

   of an obscure nature

   paradoxical, self-contradictory

   seemingly contradictory but nonetheless possibly true

   unaccountable, unexplainable

   not to be accounted for or explained

   unexplained

   having the reason or cause not made clear

   insoluble

   admitting of no solution or explanation

   antonyms:

   explicable

   capable of being explicated or accounted for

   comprehendible, comprehensible

   capable of being comprehended or understood

   explainable, interpretable

   capable of being understood

   soluble

   susceptible of solution or of being solved or explained