incommunicable

[ in-kuh-myoo-ni-kuh-buhl ]

adjective

1. incapable of being communicated, imparted, shared, etc.
2. not communicative; taciturn.

incommunicable

/ ˌɪnkəˈmjuːnɪkəbəl /

adjective

1. incapable of being communicated
2. an obsolete word for incommunicative

Derived Forms

• ˌincomˈmunicably, adverb
• ˌincomˌmunicaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• incom·muni·ca·bili·ty incom·muni·ca·ble·ness noun
• incom·muni·ca·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of incommunicable¹

From the Late Latin word incommūnicābilis, dating back to 1560–70. See in- ³, communicable

Example Sentences

What has happened — the death of a child — is too primal, too animalistic, too fundamentally incommunicable for notions like “consolation” to apply.

From Washington Post

And nothing is more isolating, more incommunicable, than the grief of a parent who has been unable to save their child’s life.

From Washington Post

When Ishmael stops by the Whaleman's Chapel before his fateful journey, "each silent worshipper seemed purposely sitting apart from the other, as if each silent grief were insular and incommunicable."

From Salon

Abstract artists, including Alberto Burri, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Jack Whitten and Mark Bradford, all found unique ways to use such materials to conjure the weight of incommunicable things.

From Washington Post

The incommunicable thing at the heart of grief helps explain why abstraction is one of its most powerful expressions, and why so many artists in this show turn either to visual abstraction or to the abstractions of music and language.

From Washington Post