impredicableadj.
/ɪmˈprɛdɪkəb(ə)l/ That cannot be predicated. (In quot. 1864 loosely = that cannot be predicted.)
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > unreliability > [adjective] > unpredictable
contingentc1400
casualc1460
whimsical1654
precarious1687
ambiguous1759
incalculable1796
uncalculable1848
chancy1860
impredicable1864
fluky1880
aleatoric1921
contingency1931
iffy1937
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. ii Not to be Spoken, Ineffable, Inpredicable.
1864 J. R. Lowell Rebellion in Prose Wks. (1890) V. 126 Dependent on a multitude of new and impredicable circumstances.
1880 F. Hall in Nation (N.Y.) 31 276/1 Nor can we doubt that ‘formal grammar’, as impredicable of English..will cease to be a topic [etc.].
a1899 Mod. Spiritual qualities are impredicable of physical things.
1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. iii. §38. 138 Russell showed that this antinomy can also be so formulated as to apply not only to classes but to properties as well (the antinomy of ‘impredicable’..).
1937 A. Smeaton tr. R. Carnap Logical Syntax Lang. iv. §60a. 212 Hence a definition of the form given for ‘impredicable’ is obviously impossible.
1965 F. Sommers in M. Black Philos. in Amer. 272 For example, the term clean is impredicable of the equator.
Derivatives
imˌpredicaˈbility n. the condition of being impredicable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > changeableness > [noun]
unstablenessc1340
varyingc1380
uncertaintyc1384
brotelnessc1386
were1390
instabilityc1422
bricklenessa1425
changeability?a1425
changeableness1447
vertibility1447
mutability?a1475
variableness?a1475
inconstance1509
mutationa1542
fickleness1548
variety1548
unconstancy1563
mobility1567
unstability1572
vicissitude1576
variousness1607
inconstancy1613
slipperinessa1618
alterableness1633
versatilousness1640
bottomlessness1642
lability1651
brittlety1652
versatileness1654
fluctuancy1659
fugitivenessa1661
alterability1661
permutability1662
unfixedness1668
mutablenessa1677
flittingnessa1680
frailness1687
flittiness1692
versability1721
plasticity1727
variability1771
unestablishment1776
fluctuabilitya1786
changefulness1791
unsettledness1799
versatility1802
harlequinism1808
fluidity1824
fitfulness1825
sensitiveness1825
insubstantiality1848
contingency1858
rootlessness1859
shiftingness1866
ficklety1888
variancy1888
impredicability1906
proteanism1909
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > impossibility > [noun]
impossibleness1447
unpossibility?1492
impossibilitya1530
unpossibleness1561
impredicability1906
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > unreliability > [noun] > unpredictability
casualty1503
contingency1635
accidentalness1648
accidentality1651
uncalculableness1831
incalculableness1864
incalculability1873
unpredictability1878
flukiness1888
impredicability1906
1906 P. Lowell Mars & its Canals viii. 95 Even on Mars nothing in the way of weather is absolutely predicable but impredicability.
1965 F. Sommers in M. Black Philos. in Amer. 273 It becomes unnecessary to introduce special ‘type’ restrictions to account for impredicability.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adj.1623