| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | not understandable |
| Synonyms: | Delphic, Greek, baffling, beats me, beyond comprehension, beyond one's grasp, clear as mud, cryptic, enigmatic, fathomless, impenetrable, incognizable, inconceivable, inscrutable, mysterious, mystifying, obscure, opaque, over one's head, perplexing, puzzling, sibylline, unclear, unfathomable, ungraspable, unimaginable, unintelligible, unknowable |
| Antonyms: | comprehensible, fathomable, intelligible, understandable |
| Main Entry: | baffling |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | puzzling |
| Synonyms: | abstruse, bewildering, beyond one, confusing, difficult to understand, enigmatic, hard to understand, incomprehensible, mystifying, over one's head, perplexing, unclear, unfathomable |
| Antonyms: | clear, comprehensible |
| Main Entry: | cryptic |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | secret; obscure in meaning |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, Delphic, abstruse, ambiguous, apocryphal, arcane, cabalistic, dark, enigmatic, equivocal, esoteric, evasive, hidden, incomprehensible, inexplicable, murky, mysterious, mystic, mystical, mystifying, occult, opaque, oracular, perplexing, puzzling, recondite, secretive, strange, tenebrous, unclear, unfathomable, uninformative, vague, veiled |
| Notes: | cryptic coloration helps conceal an animal; phaneric coloration makes an animal stand out |
| Antonyms: | clear, obvious, plain, seen, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | elusive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | evasive, mysterious |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, baffling, cagey, deceitful, deceptive, difficult to catch, elusory, equivocal, evanescent, fallacious, fleeting, fraudulent, fugacious, fugitive, greasy, illusory, imponderable, incomprehensible, indefinable, insubstantial, intangible, misleading, occult, phantom, puzzling, shifty, shy, slippery, stonewalling, subtle, transient, transitory, tricky, unspecific, volatile |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge illusory means based on or having the nature of an illusion; elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture |
| Antonyms: | attracting, confronting, encountering, enticing, facing, inviting |
| Main Entry: | enigmatic/enigmatical |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | mysterious |
| Synonyms: | Delphian, Sibylline, ambiguous, cryptic, dark, doubtful, equivocal, incomprehensible, indecipherable, inexplicable, inscrutable, obscure, occult, oracular, perplexing, puzzling, recondite, secret, sphinxlike, stickling, stumping, teasing, uncertain, unfathomable, unintelligible |
| Antonyms: | clear, obvious, unmysterious |
| Main Entry: | inarticulate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unable to speak well |
| Synonyms: | blurred, dumb, faltering, halting, hesitant, hesitating, inaudible, incoherent, incomprehensible, indistinct, maundering, muffled, mumbled, mumbling, mute, obscure, reticent, silent, speechless, stammering, tongue-tied, unclear, unintelligible, unspoken, unuttered, unvocal, unvoiced, vague, voiceless, wordless |
| Antonyms: | articulate, communicative |
| Main Entry: | incoherent |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unintelligible |
| Synonyms: | breathless, confused, disconnected, discontinuous, discordant, disjointed, disordered, dumb, faltering, inarticulate, incohesive, incomprehensible, incongruous, inconsistent, indistinct, indistinguishable, irrational, jumbled, maundering, muddled, muffled, mumbling, mute, muttered, puzzling, rambling, stammering, stuttering, tongue-tied, uncommunicative, unconnected, uncoordinated, uneven, unvocal, wandering, wild |
| Antonyms: | coherent, intelligible, understandable |
| Main Entry: | inexplicable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | beyond comprehension, explanation |
| Synonyms: | baffling, enigmatic, incomprehensible, indecipherable, indescribable, inexplainable, inscrutable, insoluble, mysterious, mystifying, obscure, odd, peculiar, puzzling, strange, unaccountable, undefinable, unexplainable, unfathomable, unintelligible, unsolvable |
| Antonyms: | comprehendible, explainable, explicable, intelligible |
| Main Entry: | inscrutable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hidden, mysterious; blank |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, arcane, cabalistic, deadpan, difficult, enigmatic, impenetrable, incomprehensible, inexplicable, mysterial, mystic, poker-faced, secret, sphinxlike, unaccountable, undiscoverable, unexplainable, unfathomable, unintelligible, unknowable, unreadable |
| Antonyms: | clear, comprehensible, evident, intelligible, obvious, plain |