indefinable

[ in-di-fahy-nuh-buhl ]

adjective

1. not definable; not readily identified, described, analyzed, or determined.

noun

1. something that cannot be defined:

   the indefinables of great musicianship.

indefinable

/ ˌɪndɪˈfaɪnəbəl /

adjective

1. incapable of being defined or analysed

   there was an indefinable sense of terror

Derived Forms

• ˌindeˈfinably, adverb
• ˌindeˈfinableness, noun

Other Words From

• inde·fina·ble·ness noun
• inde·fina·bly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of indefinable¹

First recorded in 1800–10; in- ³ + definable ( def )

Example Sentences

When it’s completely indefinable, it exists as a cloud.

From Los Angeles Times

A recent New Yorker profile of Jeremy Strong seemed determined to find eccentricity in the actor’s dedication to craft, just as so many people with public platforms voiced their often indefinable irritation with Hathaway’s.

From Los Angeles Times

And that work, which exists in some indefinable terrain between off-the-rack categories like “traditional” and “modern,” is truly magnetic.

From New York Times

The crushing of the belief that the Seattle ballclub, by dint of some indefinable flaw in their DNA, would always wilt and wither in crunchtime.

From Seattle Times

Charleston was a very different place then, still showing the scars of its past and suffused with a palpable but indefinable sense of mystery.

From Washington Post