Make Your Point > Archived Issues > INSCRUTABLE

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connect today's word to others: Have you ever panicked over -able vs. -ible? Like this? "How do you spell this--inscrutible or inscrutable? I should know this. I feel dumb. Now they both look wrong. Why is English so cruel?" In these moments of panic, if you don't have a spell-checker or a dictionary on hand, your best bet is to pick -able, since it's six or seven times more common than -ible. (I checked! The OED lists about 4,700 ables and only about 700 ibles.) If you bet on -able and not -ible with inscrutable, that's a win. You'd also score wins with the following words: 1. Something ine__able is hard to put into words, because it's so intense. 2. Someone or something m___eable is easily shaped or easily influenced. 3. Someone or something red___able is so impressive or powerful that it's scary. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) make your point with... "INSCRUTABLE" In Latin, scrutari means "to search, to examine, or to investigate." Here are some of scrutari's English relatives: Scrutiny is the act of looking at something (or searching through something) very carefully. To scrutinize people or things is to put them under your scrutiny: to look at them and judge them in a very careful, thorough, critical way. Something scrutable can be understood if you look at it carefully or examine it closely. But we hardly ever use that word, scrutable, unless we're pairing it with its opposite, inscrutable: Something inscrutable is so mysterious or so complicated that you can't understand it, even if you try by looking at it carefully or examining it closely. Pronunciation: in SKROO duh bull Part of speech: Adjective: "an inscrutable mind," "their intentions are inscrutable." Other forms: inscrutably, inscrutableness or inscrutability How to use it: Use this formal, emphatic word to talk about inscrutable riddles and mysteries, inscrutable processes and algorithms, inscrutable messages and comments, inscrutable stories and explanations, inscrutable motives and intentions, inscrutable faces and expressions, inscrutable desires and expectations, and so on. Of course, what's inscrutable to me might not be inscrutable to you: "These local traditions remain inscrutable to visitors." And although it's usually things that are inscrutable, we can also call people inscrutable, or say they have inscrutable moods, natures, personalities, etc. examples: Sometimes I think Faulkner's novels are works of art; other times they're inscrutable frustrations.  "The College Football Playoff selection committee begins the first of its weekly brainstorming on an inscrutable puzzle in a room with no evident booze."    — Chuck Culpepper, The Washington Post, 28 October 2018 study it: Explain the meaning of "inscrutable" without saying "cryptic" or "incomprehensible." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Something) is still inscrutable to (someone)." Example: "People use the app to pay each other, and by default, these little person-to-person transactions post to a public feed, complete with dollar amounts--a feature whose purpose is still inscrutable to me." before you review, play: Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first. Tidbits and Titles! I provide the tidbits; you provide the title. From our previous issue: Here's a quote from a book: "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior‎." And here are some terms and phrases that often appear in that book: advertising, Burger King, cattle, contaminated, fast food industry, feedlots, frozen, kids, McLibel, obesity, potatoes, slaughterhouse, Taco Bell, union What's the book's title? Answer: Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Try this last one today: Here's a quote from a book: "The history of interactions among disparate peoples is what shaped the modern world through conquest, epidemics and genocide. Those collisions created reverberations that have still not died down after many centuries, and that are actively continuing in some of the world's most troubled areas." And here are some terms and phrases that often appear in that book: agriculture, ancient, century, colonization, cultural, epidemic, Fertile Crescent, germs, human societies, language family, Native Americans, seeds, Sumerian, tribes, Yali's question. What's the book's title? review today's word: 1. The exact opposite of INSCRUTABLE is SCRUTABLE. But a close opposite of INSCRUTABLE is A. INTELLIGIBLE. B. UNDEFEATED. C. DISCRIMINATING. 2. Their requirements are inscrutable, _____. A. constantly changing and nowhere on record B. simple to understand but impossible to achieve C. listed in the fine print that everyone signs but no one reads Answers are below. a final word: Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From Liesl's blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes. Answers to review questions: 1. A 2. A