inscrutableness
Quality of unknowability
The quality of being impossible to understand or interpret.
Inscrutableness suggests an impenetrable mystery—a face, motive, or meaning that resists all attempts at reading: The inscrutableness of his expression gave nothing away.
The word is formal and somewhat awkward; inscrutability is more common.
Showing no emotion
- impassiveWithout visible emotion
- deadpanExpressionless, especially for humor
- unreadableCannot be deciphered
- blankWithout marks or content
stoic · expressionless · sphinxlike · enigmatic · mysterious · impenetrable · guarded · reserved
Impermeability to light
- vaguenessAbsence of precision
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- murkinessDimness, lack of clarity
- cloudinessAtmospheric opacity from vapor
nebulousness · indistinctness · unintelligibility · incomprehensibility · abstruseness · impenetrability · obliqueness · opaqueness
Something hard to fathom
- riddlePuzzling question to solve
- conundrumPerplexing problem or question
- puzzleChallenge testing ingenuity
- sphinxMysterious, unreadable person
cipher · arcane · cryptic · mystique · secrecy · veiled · occult · unfathomable
State of elaborate complexity
- convolutionTwisting or mathematical integration
- labyrinthineExtremely complex and winding
- multifacetedHaving many dimensions
- nuancedHaving fine distinctions
perplexity · tangled · byzantine · knotty · esoteric · recondite · abstruse · convoluted
poker-faced
Showing no emotion
- impassiveWithout visible emotion
- deadpanExpressionless, especially for humor
- unreadableCannot be deciphered
blank · stoic · expressionless · sphinxlike · enigmatic · mysterious · impenetrable · guarded · reserved · mask-like
opacity
Impermeability to light
- vaguenessAbsence of precision
- ambiguityOpenness to multiple interpretations
- murkinessDimness, lack of clarity
cloudiness · nebulousness · indistinctness · unintelligibility · incomprehensibility · abstruseness · impenetrability · obliqueness · opaqueness · haziness
enigma
Something hard to fathom
- riddlePuzzling question to solve
- conundrumPerplexing problem or question
- puzzleChallenge testing ingenuity
sphinx · cipher · arcane · cryptic · mystique · secrecy · veiled · occult · unfathomable · impenetrable
intricacy
State of elaborate complexity
- convolutionTwisting or mathematical integration
- labyrinthineExtremely complex and winding
- multifacetedHaving many dimensions
nuanced · perplexity · tangled · byzantine · knotty · esoteric · recondite · abstruse · convoluted · elaborate
inscrutablenessclarity
State of being understandable
clearness · intelligibility · understandability · lucidity · comprehensibility
inscrutablenesstransparency
State of being see-through
openness · obviousness · straightforwardness · candidness · frankness
scrutiny, scrutinize, inscrutable, inscrutability, inscrutably, scrutable