unknowable
Forever beyond grasp
Unknowable describes something that cannot be known or understood, no matter how much effort is applied.
It suggests limits to human knowledge itself, not just current ignorance: Whether consciousness survives death remains unknowable.
As a noun, the unknowable refers to what lies permanently beyond comprehension: We stood at the edge of the unknowable.
Impossible to understand
- unfathomableBeyond comprehension or measurement
- inscrutableImpossible to understand
- impenetrableImpossible to pass through
- ungraspableImpossible to seize
unintelligible · indiscernible · unanswerable · unprovable · undiscoverable · unverifiable · inaccessible · opaque
Exceeding usual boundaries
- ineffableBeyond verbal expression
- infiniteHaving no bounds
- absoluteTotal, without qualification
- divineOf or from gods
eternal · numinous · supernatural · otherworldly · ultimate reality · first cause · thing-in-itself · unconditioned
Puzzling and obscure
mystical · hidden · veiled · secretive · obscure · puzzling · perplexing · baffling
Theory of knowledge
- ontologyStudy of existence's nature
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- imponderableBeyond estimation or measure
- solipsismOnly self surely exists
agnosticism · phenomenology · Kant · epistemic humility · skepticism · empiricism · rationalism · a priori
incomprehensible
Impossible to understand
- unfathomableBeyond comprehension or measurement
- inscrutableImpossible to understand
- impenetrableImpossible to pass through
ungraspable · unintelligible · indiscernible · unanswerable · unprovable · undiscoverable · unverifiable · inaccessible · opaque · insoluble
transcendent
Exceeding usual boundaries
divine · eternal · numinous · supernatural · otherworldly · ultimate reality · first cause · thing-in-itself · unconditioned · primordial
enigmatic
Puzzling and obscure
occult · mystical · hidden · veiled · secretive · obscure · puzzling · perplexing · baffling · inexplicable
epistemology
Theory of knowledge
- ontologyStudy of existence's nature
- metaphysicsPhilosophy of existence's nature
- imponderableBeyond estimation or measure
solipsism · agnosticism · phenomenology · Kant · epistemic humility · skepticism · empiricism · rationalism · a priori · transcendental
death
Cessation of life
- afterlifeExistence beyond mortality
- consciousnessState of sentient awareness
- meaningWhat something signifies
purpose · origin · destiny · soul · eternity · void · nothingness · oblivion · mortality · finitude
- mysteriousmysterious, cryptic, enigmatic, arcane, obscure
- emptinessemptiness, void, vacuum, nothingness, blank
- LovecraftianCthulhu, Necronomicon, Arkham, cosmic horror, Call of Cthulhu
unknowableknowable
Able to be grasped
cognizable · cognisable · fathomable · comprehensible · discoverable
unknowableself-evident
Requiring no demonstration
clear · straightforward · obvious · transparent · manifest